DSpace Collection:
https://hdl.handle.net/10171/16830
2024-03-19T01:31:12ZIs it all the same? Mapping and characterizing deprived urban areas using worldView-3 superspectral imagery. A case study in Nairobi, Kenya
https://hdl.handle.net/10171/62848
Title: Is it all the same? Mapping and characterizing deprived urban areas using worldView-3 superspectral imagery. A case study in Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract: In the past two decades, Earth observation (EO) data have been utilized for studying the spatial patterns of urban deprivation. Given the scope of many existing studies, it is still unclear how very-high-resolution EO data can help to improve our understanding of the multidimensionality of deprivation within settlements on a city-wide scale. In this work, we assumed that multiple facets of deprivation are reflected by varying morphological structures within deprived urban areas and can be captured by EO information. We set out by staying on the scale of an entire city, while zooming into each of the deprived areas to investigate deprivation through land cover (LC) variations. To test the generalizability of our workflow, we assembled multiple WorldView-3 datasets (multispectral and shortwave infrared) with varying numbers of bands and image features, allowing us to explore computational efficiency, complexity, and scalability while keeping the model architecture consistent. Our workflow was implemented in the city of Nairobi, Kenya, where more than sixty percent of the city population lives in deprived areas. Our results indicate that detailed LC information that characterizes deprivation can be mapped with an accuracy of over seventy percent by only using RGB-based image features. Including the near-infrared (NIR) band appears to bring significant improvements in the accuracy of all classes. Equally important, we were able to categorize deprived areas into varying profiles manifested through LC variability using a gridded mapping approach. The types of deprivation profiles varied significantly both within and between deprived areas. The results could be informative for practical interventions such as land-use planning policies for urban upgrading programs.2021-01-01T00:00:00ZUncertainy’s indices assessment for calibrated energy models
https://hdl.handle.net/10171/62702
Title: Uncertainy’s indices assessment for calibrated energy models
Abstract: Building Energy Models (BEMs) are a key element of the Energy Performance of Buildings
Directive (EPBD), and they are at the basis of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). The main
goal of BEMs is to provide information for building stakeholders; they can be a powerful market
tool to increase demand for energy efficiency solutions in buildings without affecting the comfort of
users, as well as providing other benefits. The next generation of BEMs should value buildings in a
holistic and cost-effective manner across several complementary dimensions: envelope performances,
system performances, and controlling the ability of buildings to offer flexible services to the grid by
optimizing energy consumption, distributed generation, and storage. SABINA is a European project
that aims to look for flexibility to the grid, targeting the most economic source possible: existing
thermal inertia in buildings. In doing so, SABINA works with a new generation of BEMs that tend
to mimic the thermal behavior of real buildings and therefore requires an accurate methodology to
choose the model that complies with the requirements of the system. This paper details our novel
extensive research on which statistical indices should be chosen in order to identify the best model
offered by the calibration process developed by Fernandez et al. in a previous paper and therefore is
a continuation of that work.2019-01-01T00:00:00Z