In the long term, sustainably built settlements are superior to conventional building projects in terms of environmental, economic, and socio-cultural benefits, which is why this subject has become an increasingly urgent issue all over the world. The buildings of the future will no longer be isolated, independent structures - instead, they will interact with their environment in terms of design, function and infrastructure. The Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance enhances this process by conducting further fundamental research and by promoting the development of feasible concepts for urban planners and the building industry.
The member institutes of the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance develop models, methods and tools that allow describing and assessing the sustainability of urban building projects. This research accompanies the entire life cycle of buildings from the construction stage, during usage through to demolition and disposal. The findings obtained from monitoring provide the basis for designing socially and ecologically livable cities. Sustainable urban development is composed of three modules, which are reflected in the projects implemented by the Fraunhofer Institutes. These include efficient use of energy resources, efficient use of material resources and efficient and intelligent use of space.
Another essential element in optimizing this efficiency constitutes the treatment of noise as a typical technology impact, and how to reduce or even eliminate noise by applying innovative acoustic technologies.