Chithra K
@nitc.ac.in
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture & Planning
National Institute of Technology Calicut
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Architecture, Urban Studies, Multidisciplinary
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
K. Chithra, B. V. Binoy, and P. Bimal
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Arathy Sudarsan and K. Chithra
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nishan Nazer, K Chithra, and P Bimal
Elsevier BV
S B Athira, P K Amritha, and K Chithra
IOP Publishing
Abstract In architecture and planning domain, sustainability has been considered as a core strategy for over three decades now. The modern era of globalisation, led to homogenisation in architecture, thus widening the gap between modern and Traditional Building Knowledge systems (TBKS) worldwide. This gap is widening at an alarming speed and alienating the architectural concepts from the context and its people, by ignoring the sustainability aspects. The TBKS has evolved in line with the environmental, cultural, technological, economic, and historical context within which it exists. The current study provides an overview of the concepts involved in sustainability and TBKS and how TBKS is addressed in the international forums and UN reports, and ancient treatises that formed the basis of TBKS in the Indian context. The four pillars of sustainability i.e., environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions were considered as the parameters to measure how far the sustainability has been achieved in the built environment. From the extensive review of literature, a set of design indicators was identified for the TBKS. Further, its applicability was also analysed based on the case examples. The current study reveals that such indicators, mentioned in the TBKS, are context-specific in nature. Hence, it helps in achieving sustainability at the building level. The paper concludes by identifying the co-relation between TBKS and sustainability and calls for more studies upon using the Traditional Building Knowledge Systems as a potential tool to achieve sustainability.
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
K. Chithra, B. V. Binoy, and P. Bimal
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Elsevier BV
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Elsevier BV
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Elsevier BV
Nina Lazar and K Chithra
IOP Publishing
Abstract Introduction: The need for sustainable cities and societies is well established and it is recognized as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable buildings are the key elements in the fabric of sustainable cities. The efforts made in the building sector to accomplish the SDGs is widely accepted in the form of building rating systems and assessment systems, primarily focussing the environmental dimension, but the social and economic dimensions have gained less attention. In this context, developing countries are accustomed to many studies incorporating the three dimensions of sustainability. However, region-specific assessment systems and studies hardly exist especially in a country like India with diverse climatic conditions. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the key criteria influencing the environmental, social and economic sustainability with specific focus to residential buildings in the tropical climatic region of India. Methods: A comprehensive review of the existing Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) and published literature was performed to establish the initial pool of criteria. Additionally, a questionnaire survey was conducted among experts from various domains to record the importance of each criterion towards sustainability of residential buildings in the tropical climate. The data collected through the questionnaire survey was analyzed and the degree of importance of each criterion was derived using Fuzzy TOPSIS. Further, Pareto analysis was used to arrive at the key criteria. Results: This study has evaluated the importance of each criterion towards sustainability and has proposed a comprehensive framework for assessing the sustainability of residential buildings in tropical climate incorporating the three dimensions of sustainability. The proposed framework would help the state and national governments to streamline the activities in the building sector towards achieving sustainability. Conclusions: The study concludes that a combination of Fuzzy TOPSIS and Pareto analysis is an effective method to define key criteria influencing sustainability. The findings of this study can be helpful to practitioners, researchers and academicians to achieve building sustainability in the tropical climate.
Nina Lazar and K. Chithra
Elsevier BV
P. P. Anilkumar and Ar. K. Chithra
Indian Society for Education and Environment
Background: The paper is based on a study aimed at arriving a more rational method to estimate quantity of solid waste generated type-wise, replacing the per capita based system practiced at present. Methods: It tries to understand how ‘residential land use and associated activities’ based specific key generator parameters of solid waste in a small/medium scale urban area influence quantity of waste generated. Criticality of residential landuse and related generators are identified through a Delphi/AHP based expert survey. Their relationship to waste generation is established using a field survey conducted in 2 select wards of three cities in South India. A statistically relevant sample size of 150 households/ward was surveyed. Results: The results show that when solid waste estimation based on land use parameters is attempted for residential land use not only factors like household size, income and food habits matter but also factors like housing typology, educational back ground, household size, existing systems in place for waste management etc have a decisive role to play in waste generation. Results of the Delphi/AHP process showing landuse criticality and weightage of the relevant parameters of residential landuse are first presented. Then, the paper discusses the field survey findings linking the stated parameters to the type and quantities of waste produced in the surveyed cities. In conclusion, the paper briefly outlines a system that can be developed to estimate solid waste generation at a suitable level (like ward) incorporating the parameters listed. Application: At the application level, such a system will have superior quantitative and qualitative precision of waste estimation and thus can help better in waste management, capacity building and mitigation measures as the case may be.