There have been various concerns about the environmental impact of construction works. This generates a need to take a more proactive approach in evaluating the environmental impacts of construction operations and further explore ways to reduce the environmental impacts. Enormous opportunities exist within the building industry to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of the study is to develop a framework for the evaluation of improvement opportunities for environmental impact for onsite and offsite building construction works using life cycle assessment (LCA) and value-stream-mapping concepts. Various tools for LCA exist; however, there is a need for the development of an LCA framework and improvement opportunities that can be localized to various communities to evaluate improvement opportunities for building construction. This study conducts a review of methods to evaluate the LCA of buildings on local construction sites. A procedure for establishing improvement opportunities is also developed. Based on the author’s knowledge and experience, including site visits, using value stream mapping (VSM) techniques, a conceptual framework of the present state map and future state map of residential construction works was developed. The study presents a procedure for the evaluation of improvement opportunities for the environmental impacts of construction operations.

The last three decades have witnessed in Europe an increasing interest from institutions, and creative communities in independent research connected to crafting, DIY, maker culture, and design activism. A new generation of designers has focused on the experimentation of processes, materials, and technologies used as a vehicle for socio-political and environmental messages and as the starting point of solid narrative projects. This paper aims to analyse this phenomenon inside the niche of Collectible Design, a field in recent years of great interest by galleries and institutions for its ability to embrace material and technological research as well as craftsmanship and art. We investigate the phenomenon, through a series of interviews with designers such as Shahar Livne, Eugenia Morpurgo, Pleun van Dijk, Tellurico, and Standard 404, selected for their ability to use experimental materials and technologies, as communicative media for reflections on systemic issues.

Al-Dawaimah is an ancient Canaanite Palestinian village, occupied in 1948 by Israel, and belongs to inframediterranean to thermomediterranean thermotype and arid, semi-arid, and dry ombrotype. The study presents, a region rich in many plant vascular, and it is part of the Palestinian coast, North Africa, the Negev and the Sinai desert, in addition to the mountainous hills of Palestine located west of the Hebron, Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The objective is to identify and update the flora and vegetation in the area of Al-Dawaimah and its neighboring areas in west Hebron of Palestine. Methodology: More than 270 plant specimens have been taken from Al-Dawaimah and surroundings areas, using Braun-Blanquet, Van der Maarel and Salvador River Martinez methods to study the flora, and phytosociological plants, and 214 x 10 plants plots distributed in area were studied. Result and discussion: Three different plant communities were identified, in different environments between arid, dry- subhumid ombrotype and infra-thermomediterranean thermotype, and different soils as (carbon substrates as brown ruinsenas and terra rossa lands, limestone and others), where more than 214 species of plants have been found, of which 45 (20.02%) are endemic species, and in Raunkiaer's life system, trees represent were, (86; 40.18% trees), (34; 15.88% shrubs), (51; 23.83% chamaephytes), (10; 4.67% geophytes), (16; 7.47% phanerophytes), and (12; 6.54% hemicryptophytes). Conclusion: In Al-Dawaimah area, syntaxonomical performance of these associations are: Quercetalia ilicis Br.-Bl. ex Molinier 1934. Rhamno lycioidis-Quercion cocciferae Rivas Goday ex Rivas-Martinez 1975. 1. Rhamnus palaestinae- Quercetum calliprini ass. nova., Pistacio lentisci -Rhamnetalia alaterni Rivas-Martínez 1975. 2. Ceratonio siliquae -Pistacetum lentisci ass. nova., Junipero phoeniceae- Pinon acutisquamae A.V. Pérez et Cabezudo in A.V. Pérez et al. 1988 corr. Rivas-Martinez. et al. 2002. Pinetalia halepensis Biondi et al. 2014. 3. Junipero phoeniceae- Pinetum halepensis ass. nova.

Although there are numerous studies on the floristic composition of the Andean and Caribbean grasslands, there are limited information from a phytosociological point of view. This work therefore aims to highlight the differences in this important vegetation type in these two biodiversity hotspots to gain a better understanding of their floristic and vegetational richness. The floristic composition of Andean grasslands (Ecuador) and the island of Hispaniola is also studied. The reason for this comparative analysis of Andean and Caribbean territories is their tropical character and their bioclimatic similarities. The comparative analysis of Peruvian Andean and Colombian grasslands is based on floristic knowledge from the literature, our inventories on the island of Hispaniola, and the works of Peguero. We applied the phytosociological methodology of Braun-Blanquet and the code of phytosociological nomenclature. We performed a statistical analysis to verify the differences between both community types using the statistical packages PAST© and CAP3. The comparative analysis of Andean and Caribbean grasslands shows a clear floristic and biogeographical differentiation and reveals that the only ecological character they share is their high-mountain attribute. In the Caribbean these communities are found only on the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) in the Central biogeographic sector, Central subprovince, Hispaniola province. These grasslands are exclusive to Hispaniola and have a high rate of endemics. We propose the following new syntaxa: the association Hyperico constanzae-Danthonietum domingensis, the alliance Hieracio domingensis-Deschampsion domingensis, the order Danthonietalia domingensis, and the class Deschampsio-Danthonietea domingensis. We found high biodiversity values for Andean and Caribbean areas. This is due to the intense anthropic activity on the island of Hispaniola, which has led to a high percentage of naturalized plants.