Kong Fah Tee

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized for their potential to address complex urban sustainability challenges; however, their integration into higher education curricula within built environment disciplines remains fragmented. This study examines how NbS contribute to the development of professional sustainability competencies and identifies pedagogical strategies most effective for embedding NbS in built environment education. A mixed-methods design was adopted, combining bibliometric analysis of 919 publications (2015–2025) with a systematic review of 26 peer-reviewed studies. The PRISMA framework guided study selection and screening, ensuring methodological rigor and transparency. The bibliometric analysis maps research trends, knowledge structures and thematic developments, while the systematic review evaluates pedagogical approaches and their impact on student learning outcomes. Results reveal six major clusters of teaching strategies and six corresponding competency domains. Experiential, project-based and place-based learning consistently produce the strongest gains in ecological understanding, socio-emotional skills and sustainable design competency. However, implementation remains uneven across disciplines and regions, and standardized metrics for assessing competency development are largely absent, limiting comparability. The findings highlight the need to embed NbS across curricula using integrated, interdisciplinary frameworks to strengthen systems thinking and ecological literacy among graduates.

The built environment is a major driver of global carbon emissions and energy consumption, making it central to international decarbonization efforts. According to global assessments, buildings and...

Permeable concrete is a type of concrete that allows water to flow through its internal matrix. These concretes are designed to manage stormwater runoff by assisting infiltration of rainwater into the ground. As such, these concretes are often viewed as the material of the future to construct climate-resilient infrastructures aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities. Recent concrete research reveals a novel type of binder, known as geopolymer cement or alkali-activated cement, which is reported to use no cement while having the same binding and hardening properties as cement. The discovery of this binder material led to an upsurge in studies looking to incorporate this concrete technology into permeable concrete to create green, eco-friendly, sustainable, and resilient infrastructures. Therefore, this book chapter looks to review the geopolymer technology and some of the research advancements in the utilization of these green solutions for use as permeable concrete applications. At the end of the book chapter, the author reveals some gaps in the study identified from the reviewed studies and recommends a material that can be utilized in geopolymer concrete research.

1. Problematic fine-grained soils present significant challenges in pavement, embankment and shallow-foundation engineering due to their low strength, high moisture sensitivity and volumetric insta...

1. The construction industry is responsible for approximately 39% of global carbon emissions, with cement production alone contributing around 8% of total CO2 output due to its high energy demand a...

This study presents a novel ten-step physics-informed computational framework is developed for snowmelt-coupled slope stability assessment integrating transient seepage, freeze-thaw degradation, and limit equilibrium analysis. The methodology couples the degree-day method with the Richards equation, exponential cohesion decay, and the Morgenstern-Price formulation, implemented as a modular open-source Python library independent of commercial geotechnical software. Sixteen numerical models in GeoStudio SLOPE/W for undulated and inclined slopes at 30° and 45° under dry and saturated conditions, with and without RC cantilever retaining walls, validate the framework. Cross-validation against coupled THM finite element analysis, Material Point Method simulations, and experimental data yields mean absolute percentage errors below 2.3% for factor of safety predictions. RC retaining walls improve the factor of safety by 33–43%, with maximum gain of 43.3% for undulated 45° dry slopes. An XGBoost surrogate model achieves R2>0.99 with 22,500× computational speedup over full transient analysis. The framework extends to energy RC retaining walls as dual function geostructures, validated against McCartney's energy pile database for thermal conductivity, thermal strain, and thermally induced suction predictions. Thermal extraction of 35–55 GJ/year is achievable while maintaining geotechnical safety, with optimal designs identified via multi-objective Pareto analysis at geotechnical safety indices of 0.93–0.99. The Lu-Dong closed-form thermal conductivity function is adopted and verified against ten soils from McCartney and Dong's compiled database.