COBRA 2010: Biodiversity and the Built Environment Theme

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) COBRA 2010 research conference

Biodiversity and the Built Environment Theme

in association with

The Ecological Built Environment Research and Enterprise group, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, UK

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) COBRA 2010 research conference to be held at Dauphine Université Paris, France, on 2-3 September 2010 will feature a special session on Biodiversity and the Built Environment stream organised by the Ecological Built Environment Research and Enterprise group; at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, UK.

Contributions are invited for the themed session on Biodiversity and the Built Environment that will be held as part of the RICS COBRA 2010 conference, which aims to stimulate ideas arising from research by exploring the range of perspectives from which the construction industry is able to contribute towards an improved biodiverse built environment and by facilitating the dissemination of the existing knowledgebase. These will take the form of scholarly written papers for presentation at the COBRA conference by their authors. All contributions will be subject to prior peer-review and will also be published in the formal proceedings of the RICS COBRA 2010 conference. Contributions are also encouraged from postgraduate researchers, including PhD and Professional Doctorate researchers in the field bringing together the International Postgraduate community in the field to present and discuss their research. Accordingly, a stream of activities dedicated for postgraduate researchers in Biodiversity and the Built Environment will be held and there will be a dedicated stream of developmental papers for Postgraduate researchers.

Other features will include:

• The papers presented in this session will be used as the basis for an edited book to be submitted for publication in the RICS Wiley-Blackwell ‘Real Estate Issues' book series. Details of this series can be found at: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-380013.html;

• Special session for Postgraduate researchers researching in Biodiversity and the Built Environment;

• Q & A session on Biodiversity and the Built Environment research.

Papers are invited for the Biodiversity and the Built Environment theme and it is expected that all papers will be accommodated within one or more of the following themes:

• The relationship between biodiversity and the planning and governance of the urban form: who is in a position to bring about change and what are the barriers that may prevent such change being implemented?

• Technical and design aspects: what is feasible and what can realistically be achieved?

• The points of intervention that exist in the life-cycle of the urban form, from planning, design and construction, through to ongoing use and renovation;

• The relationship with the supply chain of the built environment. How does this relate to the needs and current situation of developers, investors and occupiers of the built environment?

• The skills and knowledge base of the profession: while this sessions is, in essence, about enhancing the skills base, a key issue to address is an analysis of the range of skills required, which may well be fundamentally different to those that would characteristically be associated with the built environment professions;

• Impact on urban heat island impacts: the use of ‘greenery' at the individual building level and the neighbourhood and city level as an approach to regulating temperature within cities;

• Food production: through the imaginative and innovative use of space within cities, to provide a local food resource which would both reduce food-mile impacts and encourage an increased sense of civic engagement. This food resources can include anything from vegetables to honey;

• Water use: the most effective approaches to responding to the potential increase in extreme weather events, particularly those involving rainfall, are likely to include approaches that include increased use of vegetation;

• Health and wellbeing: exploring how biodiversity and using and undertaking a variety of activities in biodiverse spaces can lead to increased health and well being for inhabitants of a of the built environment;

• Pollution: exploring how air pollution from carbon emissions in urban environments can be minimised through biodiversity;

• Visual Amenity: exploring how biodiversity can increase or re-create the visual amenity and a sense of community in the built environment, such as green roofs, green facades, earth sheltered construction and trees;

• Management: exploring the theories, practices, processes and systems which should be adopted for a biodiverse built environment.

Submission of Abstracts and Papers

Those wishing to contribute to the Biodiversity and the Built Environment themed session are first invited to submit an abstract of their paper. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and should summarise the purpose, content and conclusions of the paper. They should also identify the paper's title and include up to 3 keywords for indexing purposes. A template for the abstracts are available here. Abstracts can be emailed for the attention of Dr John Littlewood (jlittlewood@uwic.ac.uk) Biodiversity and the Built Environment Theme Chair.

Deadline for abstracts: 26th February 2010

Authors will receive confirmation of acceptance of their abstract within 2 weeks of submission. Subject to prior approval of their abstract, authors are then invited to submit their final papers for inclusion in the conference. All papers are subject to peer review before being accepted for presentation at the conference and publication in the conference proceedings.

Deadline for final papers: to be notified

Papers should generally be around 3,000 words in length and should be prepared and formatted in accordance with the published RICS COBRA paper submission guidelines, details of which are available here. RICS COBRA 2010 website can be viewed here.