The international conference on Resilient and Responsible Architecture and Urbanism was IEREK's first initiative in the Netherlands. In collaboration with Hanze University, this conference provided participants with a well-rounded cultured and academic experience that surely allowed scholars to build on their knowledge and expertise.

During the opening session on the first day of the conference, participants were welcomed by the distinguished professors, Mark Mobach, Mieke Oostra, and Rob Verhofstad. This was followed by a series of presentations that the participants found very beneficial and eye-opening: The Value of Architecture in Circular City Making by Marthijn Pool, Towards a New Paradigm: The Living Building Approach as a Co-Creation Beyond Classical Supply and Demand, and Resilience, Resourcefulness and Spatial Planning by Ina Horlings.

The opening session was then followed by an individual session where participants of the conference presented their research. The following days included several other parallel sessions with topics ranging from Sustainable Architecture to Economics and governance.

On the last day of the conference, the participants were all invited to join us for a walk in the cultured city of Groningen after receiving their certificates for attending the conference. All the research papers presented at this conference are being processed for publishing in a book series by Springer titled "Advances in Science Technology & Innovation." 

Our attitudes, business models, products, services and actions related to the design, build, maintenance and transformation of our Built Environments have to change fundamentally. New build, renovation, and restoration projects increasingly focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy generation, sustainable building, water management and resource efficiency. This is not so strange when you consider the implications of a growing global population and rise in living standards. More and more Resources will be necessary to meet global demand.

For a long time, we have treated natural resources as if they were infinite and the use of toxic substances as something of little significance. Those times now seem to be well and truly over. From studies towards major turnarounds in our society by Economists, we know that major transitions occur when Structural social changes meet major economic developments and new disruptive technology. Recent financial crises, a major increase of world population, growing resource usage, Changing Demographics (e.g. aging & urbanization) in combination with the possibilities created by the disruptive information and communication technologies is an indication that we are currently on the threshold of such a period in history. This presents major challenges to our society, the current built environment and consequently to architecture, urban planning, and the construction sector.

The built environment has a major impact on how we experience the quality of our daily life. With a world population that is predicted to grow considerably, the demand for Energy and resources is likely to increase and not diminish. Since the construction sector is currently responsible for 40% of energy consumption, 40% resource usage and 40% of waste globally, it is one of the most important sectors in which a real impact can be made to improve our ecological footprint. This means Architecture and Urbanism are facing a major challenge. But then still, finding answers in designing and realizing green objects and Sustainable Urban only will not be enough. Addressing these issues successfully can never be done without considering how man experiences the quality of the built environment. More than ever architecture and urbanism have the responsibility to include issues important to ordinary people, e.g. the affordability of housing, the accessibility of the Urban Environment for elderly, healthy and comfortable places to live, safe working conditions, new jobs and maintaining the quality of life in regional areas with a shrinking population.

This demands an interdisciplinary approach for architects as well as urban designers and an integrated supply chain to execute the developed plans.

The aim of this Conference is to exchange knowledge and experience in ramping up the future-proofing of new and existing dwellings and communities.

• 1. Ramping up Net Energy Zero buildings
• 2. Future proofing and occupant satisfaction of Net Energy Zero buildings
• 3. Energy efficient urban areas
• 4. Resource efficiency & circular processes
• 5. Governance
• 6. Water management in the built environment
• 7. Business models
• 8. Maintenance for buildings
• 9. Transformation of environments
• 10. Renewable energy generation
• 11. Sustainable buildings
• 12. Architecture and Urbanism
• 13. Economic developments
• 14. Changing demographics
• 15. Communication technologies
• 16. Construction sector
• 17. Green objects and sustainable urban

Hanze University, Groningen

Please note that we will endeavor to assist you in obtaining a visa if needed, by sending an invitation letter, but the responsibility is yours and the decision rests solely with the appropriate Embassy.

Delegates in any event who cancel their registration due to special circumstances for any reason will receive refunds according to the following plan and according to the number of days from the start of the event:

EXCEPTION

A refund is not possible if

-An acceptance letter has been issued (Authors only)

-The proceedings of the event have been published (Authors only)

-All matters have been finalized (accommodation/travel expenses paid for)

Visa Rejection Cases

Reason and proof of rejection must be submitted. If the reason for rejection is due to an error on our part, the participant will be refunded their full fee with a deduction of a 20% administration fee.

Documents to be issued by IEREK to acquire a visa are as follows:

*Final Acceptance Letter (Authors only)

*Visa Invitation Letter

*Invoice/proof of payment

We encourage all authors and attendees to ensure their having acquired all documents (those applicable) mentioned.

If the reason for rejection is not related to any of the aforementioned and is an error on the participant’s part, the following will apply:

*Authors: may choose to let their co-author present his/her research on his/her behalf free of charge. If the author does not have a co-author, a member of the scientific committee shall present on the author’s behalf.

*Audience members/Registrants: will only be allowed to attend another similar event of their choosing that is organized by IEREK free of charge.

Once an abstract is submitted, it will be sent to the reviewers' committee to go through the revision process:

• Elementary Review:

Once an abstract has been submitted to our website, it is assigned for review by the reviewers using the abstract review sheet and validation of publication. This is based on four criteria:

· Accepted for publication (with minor editing changes).

· Conditionally accepted for publication (with revisions provided to authors).

· Rejected but encouraged for re-submission with major modifications.

· Rejected as inappropriate or unworthy of publication in this certain conference.

The criteria for accepting abstracts for the conference are as follows; a relevant topic of the conference should be proposed with clear writing, aims, and objectives of the study clearly presented, as well as a sound literature and methodology of the work.

• First Acceptance:

Authors will receive a notification message to know the feedback of the reviewers' committee. If an author receives the acceptance of his or her abstract, he or she has to continue writing the full-length paper using the requested templates.

• Uploading Full-Length Paper:

Authors who are allowed to upload their full-length paper(s) should use the same account details to upload their full paper(s).

• Second Acceptance:

The final paper will proceed to the primary revision to be checked if it meets the conference proceedings standards. Once it gets accepted, the author of the paper will be informed to pay the fees so that it could be sent for the final revision by the scientific committee.

• Payment:

In this step, and to proceed paper(s) that passed to the final revision process and to get the final approval, authors have to pay the requested fees. Otherwise, the final revision process will not be considered for their papers.

• Inspections and Final Approval of Full Papers:

Those with full papers and who have paid the requested fees will get finally inspected, either scientifically or linguistically. There will be a rigorous review process of full papers following the previous process according to the following criteria:

(1) Is the topic relevant to the conference?

(2) Are the writing and structure clear?

(3) Are graphics, photos, illustrations used where needed?

(4) Are the aims of the study clearly stated?

(5) Are the objectives of the study achieved?

(6) Is the literature review relevant and adequate?

(7) Has the author used an appropriate methodology and has it been clearly explained?

(8) Has the author interpreted the findings correctly?

(9) Is the paper a significant contribution to the field?

These are the registration and revision procedures for publication that all authors should follow.

- IEREK provides you the English Review service; where we will be responsible for the language review process of your paper. This service will get your paper revised in terms of grammar, punctuation, and language structure; without changing the scientific content.

- This service will ensure you have the perfect language structure, to get your perfect paper published. This will help you increase the number of citations and make it easier for others access the information provided in your paper.

Fees for the editing process:

If you are interested in getting this service, please email us your paper on: [email protected]

- Abstracts should clearly state the purpose, results, and conclusions of the work to be described in the final paper.

- After you have received the acceptance of your abstract, please continue to write your full paper with the requested template (please download from the link provided below).

- English will be the official language of the Conference

- Writing Templates: Authors are strongly encouraged to use the formatting style described below for submitting an abstract as this format is required for the full paper.

To download Resourceeding's template, Click Here

Abstract and full paper submission instructions, Click Here

IEREK has an unyielding policy regarding plagiarism. We believe that copying/taking the ideas and work of other Authors without permission and credit is fraudulent. The Reviewing committee and IEREK employees have the authority to reject a paper during its reviewing process,  on the basis of the paper being subjected to either minor or major plagiarism. Duplicating any content, even if it is one sentence or one table without the consent of its original Author, will lead to the paper’s refusal upon the complaint of the plagiarism victim.

Attending conferences is very beneficial on the professional level. Conferences are full of people promoting new ideas which will expand your knowledge and undoubtedly help your career.

You not only get to hear presentations but also converse with other researchers from different universities and even countries you may have only heard or read about. You learn from experts in the field. It is a great opportunity to find more about your field and listen to ideas that could help inspire research ideas of your own.

Not to mention, getting an overview of the place or city where the conference is being held and learning about its people and culture.

Conferences also can expand your resources by providing a great opportunity to promote gathered information on new technologies related to your research. Moreover, they let you test them out, share teaching tools and techniques, or even obtain samples of textbooks.

It is an opportunity to engage with respectable professors and discuss with them the very latest research projects they could be working on.

Delegates will have the choice of receiving the conference proceedings as either a hard cover book or in digital format on a CD. The CD will additionally contain proceedings from previous conferences in this series.

Indexing and Archiving Papers presented at IEREK conferences regularly appear in notable reviews, publications, and databases, including referencing and abstract.

Digital Archive All conference papers are archived online in the IEREK E-Library (http://www.IEREK.com) where they are immediately and permanently available to the international scientific community.

Journal participants may attend the conference to submit an enhanced version of their research for possible publication in our journal on IEREK website.

For participants who need Entry Visas, IEREK will issue a visa letter for applicants who are accepted to present at our conferences.

Please notice that we will endeavor to assist you in obtaining a visa but the responsibility is yours and the decision rests solely with the appropriate Embassy.

However, you are required to prepare your papers according to the regulations of your country’s embassy/consulate. To do this, you will need to visit the embassy/consulate website or by contacting them.

In the case of any missing document during the appointment or any other unfortunate incident that leads to your rejection, IEREK clears its responsibility as we will have done our part in providing the documents we can provide to ease the process.

International conference on Resilient and Responsible Architecture & Urbanism (RRAU) 2018

 Download the official program

Between 10-12 April 2018 the Research Centre for Built Environment NoorderRuimte, part of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences will host an international conference on resilient and responsible architecture and urbanism.

In three days, more than 30 international experts will present the latest developments related to resilient and responsible interventions to buildings, towns and regions. On the final day the participants in the conference will be part of an exclusive excursion in the old city of Groningen.

Topics include:

• ramping up Net Energy Zero buildings
• future proofing and occupant satisfaction of Net Energy Zero buildings
• energy efficient urban areas
• resource efficiency & circular processes
• governance
• water management in the built environment

Program

Tuesday April 10

09.15 Registration & coffee

10.00  Welcome by Mark Mobach (Research Centre for Built Environment NoorderRuimte)

10.10  Welcome by Mieke Oostra (Platform Urban Energy & chair)

10.15  Opening Rob Verhofstad (board Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen)

10.30  Marthijn Pool - ‘The value of Architecture in Circular City making’

11.00 Harry Vedder ‘Towards a new paradigm: the Living Building approach as a co-creation beyond classical supply and demand’

11.30 Coffee break

12.00 Ina Horlings - 'Resilience, resourcefulness and spatial planning’

12.30 LUNCH

13.30 Paper presentations

14.30 Break

15.00 Workshops

16.00 Visiting local projects

Wednesday April 11

9.30     Wim Bakens - ‘International Cooperation in Research for Building and Construction’

10.00   Amira Osman – ‘Resilience and responsibility: unique challenges and opportunities in the South African built environment’

10.30   Wafaa Nadeem - ‘Housing in Egypt. Back to the Future. The triad of living, working and mobility’

11.00   Coffee break

11.30 Paper presentations

13.00 Lunch

14.30 Paper presentations

15.30 Refreshments

16.00  Paper presentations

17.00  Drinks

19.00 DINNER

Thursday April 12

9.30     Excursion Groningen City Walk  

Registration for attendees is still open. Conference fee is € 200 for three days or €125 for one day (including excursion on day 3). Please send an email to [email protected] before 4 April 2018

RRAU 2018 is being organised by Research Centre for Built Environment NoorderRuimte together with IEREK – (International Experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange), the Platform Urban Energy and CIB, International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction.

More information can be found on https://www.ierek.com/events/resilient-responsible-architecture-urbanism#introduction or on Twitter https://twitter.com/rrau2018