Environmental and sustainability assessment tools have an important role in moving towards a better world, bringing knowledge and raising awareness. In the architecture and civil engineering sector, these assessment tools help in moving forward to constructions that have less economic, environmental and social impacts. At present, there are numerous assessment tools and methods with different approaches and scopes that have been analyzed in numerous technical reviews. However, there is no agreement about which method should be used for each evaluation case. This research paper synthetically analyzes the main sustainability assessment methods for the construction sector, comparing their strengths and weaknesses in order to present the challenges of the Spanish Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment (MIVES). MIVES is a Multi-Criteria Decision Making method based on the value function concept and the Seminars of experts. Then, this article analyzes MIVES advantages and weak points by going through its methodology and two representative applications. At the end, the area of application of MIVES is described in detail along with the general application cases of the main types of assessment tools and methods.

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Many people lose their homes around the world every year because of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the displaced people (DP) have to move to temporary housing (TH) and do not have the ability to choose the settlement dimensions, distributions, neighborhood, or other characteristics of their TH. Additionally, post-disaster settlement construction causes neighborhood changes, environmental degradation, and large-scale public expenditures. This paper presents a new model to support decision makers in choosing site locations for TH. The model is capable of determining the optimal site location based on the integration of economic, social, and environmental aspects into the whole life cycle of these houses. The integrated value model for sustainable assessment (MIVES), a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) model, is used to assess the sustainability of the aforementioned aspects, and MIVES includes the value function concept, which permits indicator homogenization by taking into account the satisfaction of the involved stakeholders.

E-mail address of corresponding author: seyed.mohammad.amin.hosseini@estudiant.upc.edu AbstractTemporary housing units (THUs) have been used for displaced population (DP) in the aftermath of natural disasters to serve as an alternative residence while the permanent housing process is completed.

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A method based on the value analysis and the multi-attribute utility theory is applied in this study to assess the sustainability of both concrete and plastic sewerage pipes. This procedure makes it possible to minimize subjectivity in the process of quantification and comparison of alternatives. To do so, the requirements tree is defined to construct a nondimensional sustainability index for each alternative, by means of value functions and weights assigned to their different components. The model was developed and tested through seminars and questionnaires solved by specialists in the field and senior managers in the Spanish public sector.The model is used to assess the sustainability of 8 alternatives including rigid reinforced and non-reinforced concrete pipes as well as flexible polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride and glass-fibre reinforced polyester pipes. Nominal diameters of 400, 800, 1200 and 2000 were chosen as those representatives for urban and rural sewerage networks.The proposed model guarantees a high degree of objectivity and clarity to deal with the sustainability analysis applied in this case to sewerage pipes, but also applicable to other areas. The sustainability indexes were similar for diameters of 400 mm and below, independently of the material. This fact justifies the penetration of the flexible tubes perceived in a market segment that has been dominated so far by the rigid pipes technology. However, concrete solutions are clearly better in terms of sustainability for wider diameters.The organization of seminars with specialists and the use of the Analytical Hierarchical Process for the attribution of weights proved to be a suitable and satisfactory combination to deal with the quantification of sustainability in this case and its extension may also be useful in other areas.

Summary Cities are rapidly growing and need to look for ways to optimize resource consumption. Metropolises are especially vulnerable in three main systems, often referred to as the FEW (i.e., food, energy, and water) nexus. In this context, urban rooftops are underutilized areas that might be used for the production of these resources. We developed the Roof Mosaic approach, which combines life cycle assessment with two rooftop guidelines, to analyze the technical feasibility and environmental implications of producing food and energy, and harvesting rainwater on rooftops through different combinations at different scales. To illustrate, we apply the Roof Mosaic approach to a densely populated neighborhood in a Mediterranean city. The building‐scale results show that integrating rainwater harvesting and food production would avoid relatively insignificant emissions (13.9–18.6 kg CO2 eq/inhabitant/year) in the use stage, but their construction would have low environmental impacts. In contrast, the application of energy systems (photovoltaic or solar thermal systems) combined with rainwater harvesting could potentially avoid higher CO2 eq emissions (177–196 kg CO2 eq/inhabitant/year) but generate higher environmental burdens in the construction phase. When applied at the neighborhood scale, the approach can be optimized to meet between 7% and 50% of FEW demands and avoid up to 157 tons CO2 eq/year. This approach is a useful guide to optimize the FEW nexus providing a range of options for the exploitation of rooftops at the local scale, which can aid cities in becoming self‐sufficient, optimizing resources, and reducing CO2 eq emissions.