This book contains a collection of papers presented at a series of meetings organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) dealing with sustainability, the environment and ecological issues. The complexity of the modern world presents new challenges to scientists and engineers that requires finding interdisciplinary solutions. Any problem solving carried out in the isolation of a particular field of expertise may give rise to a series of damaging effects which can create new and unintentional environmental and ecological problems. Specialisation, while required in our culture, needs to be kept under control by the understanding of the whole, which leads to the need of relying on interdisciplinary teams. Nowadays this can be easily achieved thanks to the massive advances in information technology which ensure continuous and immediate contact between all partners. This collaboration needs to be effective and to produce results that will lead to a better world. For this to happen, it is necessary that different groups of scientists and engineers acquire the necessary skills to be able to talk to each other.Furthermore, they need to understand the social and economic aspects of a given problem, in addition to the scientific and engineering issues involved. The Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) has a long and very successful record in organising interdisciplinary conferences. The papers in this book are a reflection of the proceedings of some of those meetings.

Table of Contents:
Contents Section 1: Sustainable city Ecological urban design through Material and Energy Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment: from an architect's perspective; Determining the vitality of urban centres; Relocating MIU to the cityscape: gentrifying Wynwood's art district from industrial to institutional; Sustainable cities: do political factors determine the quality of life?; Forecasting low-cost housing demand in an urban area in Malaysia using artificial neural networks: Batu Pahat, Johor; Networks of public open spaces in the urban fabric; Linkages between responses to the available amenities and expressed environment-related health needs in international refugee camp, Oru-Ijebu, Nigeria; Public participation in public private partnership projects - the way forward; BREEAM Communities in Spain; Rural-urban gradient and sustainability in Spain: a municipal-scale approach; Evaluation of the Kadikoy Hasanpasa Gasworks in the context of sustainable urban design; The assessment of Kirkgoz Bridge in the context of sustainable, cultural and architectural heritage; Two energy storage alternatives for a solar-powered sustainable single floor desert home; Urban walkers in medium-sized Portuguese cities: a study of Guimaraes and Braga; Sustainable mobility - analysis of sustainable mobility measures in cities; High-speed railway: impact on regional territorial configurations; Studies on the carrying capacity of water resources for sustainable cities in the Taijiang area; Local area greywater symbiosis approach to a more sustainable urban water management; Global aerotropolis versus local aqua-community: conflicting landscapes in the extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand; Public participation in urban noise prevention; Development of a unified treatment system for public use of discharged water from a Korean apartment complex for urban infrastructure regeneration; Transformative temporary use; Challenges in managing infrastructure for urban tourism: a comparative study of three Asian cities. Section 2: Eco-architecture A regenerative high-rise tower in Shreveport, Louisiana or community renewal international; The eco-unit settlement adapted to the vernacular culture: a case study of dwelling design in the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province, China; For a rationalized refurbishment of the 1960s-70s towers: the Core-Skin-Shell concept; LABCOG: the case of the Interpretative Membrane concept; Study of the traditional tabique constructions in the Alto Tamega region Section 3: Waste management The new national environmental management: Waste Act; a shift in waste management approach in South Africa; Methods for sustainable management of secondary resources; Study on coal recovery technology from waste fine Chinese coals by a vegetable oil agglomeration process; Liquefaction processes and characterization of liquefied products from waste woody materials in different acidic catalysts; Comparative technology assessment of anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of MSW; Electrodeposition of Zn-Mn alloys from recycling battery leach solutions in the presence of amines; Environmental impacts of improper solid waste management in developing countries: a case study of Rawalpindi City; Effect of bacterial additives on the performance of septic tanks for wastewater treatment in the Upper Egypt rural area; Monitoring the biomass content in the aerobic digestor of a WWTP: correlation between gravimetric and optical methods; Utilization of agricultural residues as animal feeds for fattening sheep in Saudi Arabia; Recycling of exposed photographic X-ray films and recovery of silver using Bromelain; Malaysian newspapers coverage of waste issues: problems in need of solutions? Section 4: Urban transport Study for sustainable traffic strategy in local government perspective: a contribution towards a strategy for mobility; The use of the city in space and time as a new social approach for prioritising transport corridors in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain); Integrated system for decision help in urban mobility management - towards sustainable urban area development: VISUTRANS; Locating intra city bus terminals using fuzzy logic with emphasis on city development and community alliance: case study of Tasuj; About the characterization of urban public transport networks and their terminals; Prioritization of national road projects in Saudi Arabia: weighting of multiple criteria; Evaluation of pricing tools in urban multimodal paths; An integrated approach for studying the safety of road networks: logistic regression models between traffic accident occurrence and behavioural, environmental and infrastructure parameters; System requirements control and risks control: mind the gap; Rolling-stock change risk management: an innovative approach; Improving safety in Greek road tunnels; Application of a genetic algorithm to reduce the search time for traffic signal control; Study of car emissions in the Athens Restriction Ring from the mid 1980s to 2007 with a prediction scenario for 2011 using air quality indices Section 5: Sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism at mass tourist destinations: best practice from tourist producers in Europe; Perceived impact of tourism on rural and urban communities in Botswana; Landscape evaluation on a regional level for sustainable tourism development; An appraisal of incentives for developing green hotel buildings; The hospitality sector: innovations addressing environmental concern; Community-based tourism and the development of local small businesses in rural Baja California, Mexico; The experience of stakeholder participation in tourism planning: operationalising 'best practice'; Rural tourism as a factor of sustainable development: a case study of Sukur World Heritage Site in Adamawa State, Northeastern Nigeria; Rural Eco-Museums: tourism development based on sustained development models; Can the UN WTO and the Colombian government policies promoting ecotourism, contribute to rural territorial developmentA"; Networking among rural tourism entrepreneurs; Alternative tourism: a pathway for sustainability in the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Baja California Sur, Mexico: a SWOT analysis; Art and culture as a viable currency in Yoruba traditional architecture; Food tourism initiatives: resistance on the ground; Retrofitting potential of an existing tourist lodge for improved environmental performance: an investigation; The short-break holiday: assessing its understanding in the Northern Territory, Australia; Cycling in the city, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and economic impact on tourism: case study of Puebla, Mexico