ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rethinking lifestyle and quality of life through the appropriate use of public space is necessary. This study aims to verify the measures of social distancing in Chapinero Centro, which, according to the mobility survey 2019 of Bogota, has an average of 4,633 trips on foot between 10 and 20 minutes according to the travel patterns in the areas of transportation analysis studied. Despite having great social and economic dynamics, this area has small sidewalks that hinder compliance with social distancing, which is necessary to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, geographic analysis of this area was performed using data provided by the vulnerability map of the Coronavirus web in Colombia by the National Planning Department, the Institute for Health Technology Assessment, and the National Administrative Department of Statistics. This geographic analysis made it possible to calculate the variables of population indicator per block, maximum population per sidewalk, and the criterion of compliance with social distancing. When developing the vulnerability and social distancing maps, it became evident that 37% of the sidewalks do not comply with the 2 meters of social distancing between people, so we propose extending them to 3.5 meters and reducing this same value in the vehicular space to design an effective social distancing map. We concluded that the widening of the sidewalks allows flexible use of the streets oriented to a healthy distance, which could be complemented with an accessibility study and a study of vehicular traffic to measure the impact of this intervention. © 2022, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Fresh air became a luxury good in times of Covid-19 pandemic. After lockdowns' stringency is over, former enclosed activities have been adapted to be held in open air spaces, reinforcing the importance of well-designed parks, squares and sidewalks. This paper will address one of the most iconic Brazilian public open spaces: the Copacabana promenade, designed by Roberto Burle Marx. Extending 4,5 kilometers alongside Rio de Janeiro's waterfront, the three sidewalk lanes are a social living spot, housing multiple activities. Appealing to tradition, Burle Marx designed a Portuguese stone mosaic, but innovated by proposing modern and patterns. It is an exceptional case of heritage-valued public landscape combined with social appropriation and very intense use. Unfortunately, Copacabana promenade's integrity has been constantly threatened. Many pubs and restaurants extended their structures over the pavement, ruining both the sidewalk materiality and the landscape;a number of potholes denounce the lack of appropriate maintenance - even if both the stone mosaics and the vegetation designed by Burle Marx are listed as municipal and state heritage. The promenade is also included in the "culture landscape” of Rio de Janeiro, listed as a World Heritage by Unesco, in 2012, highlighted for its contribution to the outdoor living culture. The case of Copacabana Promenade suggests that not always is materiality the real heritage. In some cases - such as some landscape architectures - materiality renovation is a requirement to design conservation and the fundamental document to heritage preservation is the paper and not the stone. © Design: Social Commitment and Quality of Life, Proceedings.All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Natural aggregates are being depleted due to the high demand for road and building construction and need to be replaced with alternative materials. This study investigated the potential of using Palm kernel shells (PaKS) as a partial replacement for natural aggregates (NA) and waste plastics (WP) as a binder. The physical and volumetric properties of the different asphaltic mixes (AM) were assessed using the Marshall Method. The bitumen content of the mix design samples was varied from 4.0% to 7.5% of the total weight of aggregates utilized. According to the Marshall parameters, at 5.5% bitumen content, the maximum Marshall Stability value of the different mix designs increased from 9.8 kN to 12.1 kN and the flow value increased from 3.0 mm to 3.7 mm. The experimental results based on the optimum bitumen content determined by the Marshall method demonstrate that PaKS and WP can be utilized to modify AM. However, additional tests will be needed to evaluate the use of this composition in road construction.
ABSTRACT
Human activities significantly contribution to the yearly generated plastic wastes. Moreover, the enormous increase in face masks and face shields caused by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has doubled the generated plastic wastes. Although there is an added benefit of using plastic waste in construction, the cost associated with their application, specifically the face mask, has not been addressed. This paper presents a simplified and rapid estimation of the cost associated with the collection, processing, and application of face masks in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. Two scenarios, mask modified asphalt pavement and conventional asphalt pavement, are considered. The total cost is based on market price and prices from waste management facilities and plastic processing companies. Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is used to evaluate the long-term costs of mask modified asphalt pavement and conventional asphalt pavement. Results show that no significant difference in initial total cost between the two scenarios for pavement sections with lengths less than 500m and the number of lanes less than 6. The difference in total cost begins with lengths greater than 500 m for 5 and 6 Lanes. Despite the higher initial costs for the mask modified asphalt pavement, the LCCA shows that there is a 29% maintenance cost reduction over the 40 years life cycle of the asphalt pavement. The use of LCCA shows the benefit of the selection of the most cost-effective strategy and how the use of mask modified asphalt pavement over the conventional asphalt pavement can save money over the life cycle of the asphalt and improve rutting and stiffens.
ABSTRACT
With vaccination on its way globally though at different speeds but with the continuous emergence of new variants, the COVID-19 pandemic is at a turning point. While significant health and socio-economic challenges will still continue to be posed in the coming years (Iftekhar et al., 2021), the transition towards the post-pandemic city is approaching, combined with other agendas, including economic recovery, energy security, inclusion and decarbonisation. Undoubtedly, we will have to learn to live with coronavirus as it becomes endemic within the population and possibly new pandemic episodes (Iftekhar et al., 2021;Mackensie, 2020). As such, the COVID-19 pandemic has constituted a planning inflection point (Dockerill et al., 2021) during which existing approaches to urban development have been, and will continue to be, questioned as local and national governments, employers and city residents continue to adapt. Such approaches have differed from one country and one place to another, highlighting severe discrepancies in approaches towards virus prevention and containment along with individual behaviours, all of which are highly path-dependent on existing cultures (e.g. car use and consumer behavior), urban structures and planning systems. Processes that were already transforming cities (such as e-commerce, homeworking and temporary transformations of spaces - either vacant or outdoor, like streets, pavements and parks) have been accelerated (Bryson et al., 2021;Andres et al., 2021;Brail, 2021;Florida et al., 2021).
ABSTRACT
In Morocco, as for all countries worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge disruption in the daily life of modern society. The transportation services have been one of the most severely affected of the various urban systems, specifically the national roads and highways. In collaboration with the National Center for Road Studies and Research, this study deals with the challenges of maintenance and monitoring to ensure a good level of comfort on the one hand, and the variability of traffic levels and its impact on the variability of surface indicators and the proper functioning of a Moroccan National road number 6, linking the city of Meknes and Khemissat over a length of 50 km composed of a flexible pavement from 2018 to 2020, which represents the national road most solicited by traffic in Morocco in recent years. The road managers were hardly prepared for such an event, and were concerned to give priority to the safety of their employees and customers to avoid any service interruption. In this regard, the analysis of past deterioration and variation of structural and surface indicators becomes a necessity in these pandemic circumstances. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
In order to meet the environmental needs caused by large plastic waste accumulation, in the road construction sector, an effort is being made to integrate plastic waste with the function of polymer into asphalt mixtures;with the purpose of improving the mechanical performance of the pavement layers. This study focuses on the effect of a recycled mixture of plastic waste on the chemical, thermal, and rheological properties of designed asphalt blends and on the identification of the most suitable composition blend to be proposed for making asphalt mixture through a dry modification method. Thermo-gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis were carried out to investigate the effect of various concentrations and dimensions of plastic waste (PW) on the neat binder (NB). The frequency sweep test and the multiple stress creep and recovery test were performed to analyze the viscoelastic behavior of the asphalt blends made up of PW in comparison with NB and a commercial modified bitumen (MB). It has been observed that the presence of various types of plastic materials having different melting temperatures does not allow a total melting of PW powder at the mixing temperatures. However, the addition of PW in the asphalt blend significantly improved the aging resistance without affecting the oxidation process of the plastic compound present in the asphalt blend. Furthermore, when the asphalt blend mixed with 20% PW by the weight of bitumen is adopted into the asphalt mixture as polymer, it improves the elasticity and strengthens the mixture better than the mixture containing MB.