Establishment of a multidisciplinary Belgian / Vietnamese design and consultancy agency in the field of urban and architectural sustainable design

The research group “Building Physics and Sustainable Building” (BoDuBo) at the Ghent Technology Campus of KU Leuven has the ambition to use the expertise it has built up with academic research in the field of urban renewal and neighborhood renovations (RenoseeC and ICCARus), circular designs (CBCI) and heat stress. (PhD, Ngo Hoang Ngoc Dung), in a bi-lateral collaboration between Belgium and Vietnam, to be translated through advice and to result in practical implementation. To this end, she will collaborate with experts from various sectors (construction and architecture, urban development and spatial planning, sociology, ICT,…) with the aim of marketing this consultancy as a commercial activity. On the one hand, the provision of advice has an important valorisation objective. On the other hand, it aims to have these serve as a basis for new academic research. In particular, the network aims to promote the digitization of urban development in Belgium and Vietnam and to lead the way by integrating the principle of “big data” into the practice of urban planning and building design. “Big Data” helps to comprehensively evaluate the existing urban context and makes it possible to develop reliable scenarios through simulations (risk of urban heat island, level of heat stress, environmental quality, availability of raw materials and resources). These scenarios allow for further steps to be taken in drawing up urban development plans. The current digitalization on a global scale in almost most sectors requires a new approach that also orientates the construction sector towards smart design of “smart buildings” and “smart cities”. Our built environment and our urban development urgently need digital support. The great complexity of the built environment, the great dependence on other sectors (mobility, industry, environment, sociology, health,…) and the large amount of data that go with it, demonstrate the need for this. Cities in the West, such as Belgium, as well as cities from countries in strong development such as Vietnam, will benefit fully from “jumping on the cart” of digitization, if not they risk missing the boat in the necessary transition to a lake circular economy and greater sustainability.