Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering

Urban and Groundwater Microplastic Contamination: Sources, Distribution, Impacts, and Remediation Technologies

Noor Nafsiah Mohamad Hussain — 2024-12-06

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in urban environments and groundwater systems has garnered significant global attention due to the critical role groundwater plays as a primary freshwater source. This review paper aims to comprehensively examine the sources, distribution, movement, and environmental impact of MPs, particularly focusing on urban areas and groundwater contamination. Special emphasis is placed on MPs originating from landfill leachate and their distribution along Malaysia's beaches. The paper also discusses the movement patterns of MPs, providing mathematical models for their migration. The environmental and health impacts of MPs, including soil degradation, toxicity in agricultural crops, and heavy metal adsorption, are analyzed. Additionally, current remediation technologies such as reverse osmosis, microbial exploitation, and ozonation are evaluated, with recommendations for combining different methods to enhance MP removal effectiveness. The involvement of the general public, socio-economic sectors, tourism, and waste management companies is highlighted as crucial for addressing this pervasive issue.

Environmental Management Practices and Sustainable Green Concrete Use in Malaysia's Construction Industry: Challenges, Benefits, and Future Directions

John Lim — 2024-11-16

This review examines the environmental management practices (EMPs) employed within Malaysia's construction sector, with a particular focus on sustainable practices and the adoption of green concrete, including fly ash, rice husk ash, and palm oil fuel ash varieties. The study identifies key challenges, such as low awareness, high costs, weak legal enforcement, and the underdevelopment of green materials in the country. To address these issues, the report proposes solutions such as capacity-building programs, government incentives like tax breaks and grants, regular site inspections, and investment in research and development of green materials. The review also assesses the advantages and limitations of different green concrete types used in Malaysia. The aim of this study is to enhance sustainability efforts and reduce the environmental impact of construction activities through greater awareness, stronger regulatory support, and commitment from all stakeholders. Implementing greener concrete and EMPs is expected to not only mitigate environmental concerns but also yield long-term economic benefits for Malaysia.

Urban Environmental Management Practices and Green Roof Technologies in Malaysia: A Path to Sustainable Development

Mohd Hashim Zulkifly — 2024-12-06

Malaysia is the developing country, which develop in contraction, agriculture, and many more kinds of activities. The construction activities for Malaysia is less implemented the green materials technology and the Environmental Management. The Environmental Management Practices is not usually applied by the construction workers. The government also show no enforcement and awareness on the Environmental Management Practices in Malaysia. There are some importance of the Environmental Management Practices is described and also the plan to improve the implementation of Environmental Management Practices under construction of Malaysia. The green roof is one of the technologies of green materials. There three kinds of green roof system as intensive green roof system, semi-intensive green roof system, and extensive green roof system. These three different systems have its own advantages and this advantages. The green materials that can be used for the green roof construction are bamboo, stones, and recycled bricks. The green materials or green roof system help to reduce the environment impact, social impact, and economic impact of Malaysia. The better environment, social life and economic can lead to sustainable development in Malaysia.

Evaluating the Impact of Government Policies on Circular Economy Adoption in the Construction Sector

Carol Emilly Hoareau — 2024-10-19

The construction sector is both essential for global economic progress and one of the largest contributors to pollution, resource depletion, and energy consumption. Given the urgent need to adopt more sustainable practices, governments in developed countries have introduced policies aimed at fostering a circular economy in this sector. These policies emphasize the use of green materials to reduce resource consumption, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global sustainability goals. The waste hierarchy further governs these policies, prioritizing waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. This study analyzes the effectiveness of these government policies in promoting circular economy principles, particularly the adoption of green materials in the construction industry. Our findings reveal that while these policies have led to measurable reductions in energy consumption and emissions, the extent of green material adoption varies significantly across countries. Key factors influencing this variation include economic incentives, regulatory enforcement, and the level of industry acceptance of green technologies. One of the most important results of this study is the identification of significant gaps between policy intent and actual industry practices. In many cases, green materials, despite their favorable characteristics, have not been widely implemented due to economic, technical, and market barriers. These findings underscore the need for stronger government incentives and more consistent policy enforcement to drive broader adoption of sustainable practices. Future studies should focus on overcoming these barriers, exploring the long-term economic impacts of green material adoption, and evaluating how policy frameworks can be optimized to ensure more widespread.

The Impact of Urban Roughness on Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Hot Arid Climate

Susan Abed Hassan — 2024-10-07

The proportion of the world's population living in cities is rapidly increasing, presenting new challenges to the urban environment and quality of life. Among these challenges is the urban environment's impact on residents' outdoor thermal comfort, which can affect their health and well-being. Urban roughness, which includes building and street heights, has a significant impact on the thermal environment of urban areas. Changes in these factors cause variations in temperature distribution, wind speed, and humidity, which affect how people perceive thermal conditions. The research problem is the effect of urban roughness on outdoor thermal comfort in hot arid climate, specifically the height of buildings and the density, for a case study in (Al-Bab Al-Sharqi) in Baghdad city. Measurement method that employed the computer programs (Rino8 and Grasshopper) to calculate the thermal comfort index (UTCI) and its impact on various climatic variables. The findings revealed that the thermal comfort index and the climatic factors associated with it vary depending on the configuration of buildings.