Sveučilište u Splitu - Fakultet građevinarstva, arhitekture i geodezije University of Split - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy

Particle-based simulations model diverse materials including sand, food grains, pharmaceutical products, ceramic powders and bulk materials, amongst others. Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations are used across multiple disciplines; as a result, the techniques have developed in different ways across these disciplines, and many DEM software packages exist. Even for experienced researchers the choice of a DEM code is challenging and involves a steep learning curve. However, open-source programs are free, well adapted to research, and promote knowledge sharing, reproducibility, and versatility. They also prevent the “black box” problems encountered with proprietary/commercial platforms.

This Action aims to unify knowledge and people across wide/diverse DEM communities. The Action will assess and extend what can be achieved with DEM by disseminating new developments, promoting best practice, providing simulation examples, validation experiments, common tools for data analysis, as well as training of young researchers and involving other interested parties.

The COST Action has five themes: (i) tackling real (large) industrial and engineering problems; (ii) using physics to account for complex phenomena more realistically; (iii) big data and visualization tools for better and quicker DEM analysis of results (iv) normalisation and best practice (v) enhancing commercial utilisation of DEM codes. Each of these themes is aligned to a different Working Group, addressing major current challenges related to DEM simulation. 

Writing Urban Places proposes an innovative investigation and implementation of a process for developing human understanding of communities, their society, and their situatedness, by narrative methods. It particularly focuses on the potential of narrative methods for urban development in European medium-sized cities. 

By recognising the value of local urban narratives -stories rich in information regarding citizens socio-spatial practices, perceptions and expectations-,  the Action aims to articulate a set of concrete literary devices within a host of spatial disciplines; bringing together scientific research in the fields of literary studies, urban planning and architecture; and positioning this knowledge vis-à-vis progressive redevelopment policies carried out in medium-sized cities in Europe.

The Action defines three thematic targets it wants to explore theoretically as well as in case studies. 1) meaningfulness: offering local communities and professionals the ability to improve their understanding of their built environment; 2). appropriation: empowering communities by improving their ability to project their feelings on their built environment. 3). integration: offering concrete tools and methods for the construction of common grounds among communities, based on relations of meaningfulness and appropriation of their built environment. 

Based on a robust investigative tradition in these fields, the COST Action brings together solid experience in linking the literary and the built and offers the necessary scientific background for the assessment of the contemporary city, while cherishing and enhancing the specificity of local urban cultures in the European context. 

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of future flood events, leading to higher costs of flood damages and increasing the public demand for protective measures. Traditional flood protection measures, mainly based on grey infrastructure (i.e. dikes, dams, etc), are not sufficient to cope with dynamic flood risk alone. Nature-based solutions such as Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) are promising options to mitigate flood risks as a complement to grey infrastructure. These types of measures not only serve to reduce risk, they also provide additional ecosystem services including increased biodiversity and recreation opportunities. However, a common characteristic of green infrastructure measures is that they often claim more land than traditional methods.

The challenge is to consider multifunctional land uses, which enable temporary flood retention and flood storage on private land without restricting the provision of other ecosystem services. The reconciliation of flood risk management and land management is needed. Since all NWRM primarily need to be implemented on private land the consideration of multiple aspects includes: economic issues (e.g. how to compensate for or incentivize flood retention services); property rights issues (e.g. how to allow temporary flood storage on private land); issues of public participation (e.g. how to ensure the involvement of private landowners) as well as issues of public subsidies (e.g. how to integrate/mainstream flood retention in agricultural subsidies). LAND4FLOOD cost action aims to address these different aspects and to establish a common knowledge base and channels of communication among scientists, regulators, land owners and other stakeholders in field.

The main objective of this Action is to break down the barrier preventing the exchange of information and experience between researchers from different disciplines on the one hand and between academia and practitioners (including fire-fighters) on the other hand. Thanks to the exchange of international experience, ideas and state-of-the-art on fire risk concepts and assessment methods, the Action aims at providing concrete applications of the performance-based fire safety design methods to practitioners and at introducing the latest research into standards for fire design.

Fire engineering researchers are specialists working in specific areas, such as fire dynamics, structural fire engineering, active/passive fire protection, environmental protection and human response. Since the background sciences of these disciplines are different at present there is little interaction between researchers. Practitioners, including fire engineers and building/fire control authorities, tend to consider fire safety as a whole, but lack in-depth awareness of recent advances in research. Through encouraging integration of different aspects of fire engineering and response, the Action will enable researchers with different fields of expertise and coming from different countries to understand better the recent advances in research in parallel fields, as well as their limitations, so that they see their own research in context, and identify opportunities in involvement of early-stage researchers and application of the results in national standards. Practitioners, fire fighting authorities and building control authorities will benefit from exposure to advanced research findings, discussion with the research community, and the sharing of best practice and others’ experiences. On the other side their input will make researchers aware of real-world constraints, as well as current requirements for new research and for the development of European standards.