This volume contains the extended versions of selected papers presented at the first Mediterranean Conference "Sharing Knowledge on Sustainable Building" held at the Polytechnic ofBari in December 1999, supported by the National Research Council of Italy. The publication of this book was made possible through the efforts of the contributing Authors. Other people have provided invaluable support for the conference and for the preparation of this volume; in particular, I wish to thank Antonella Lerario for providing support in the final editing of the text and images. 1 As reported in Boonstra and Rovers (200 I) , people spend a great deal of time inside buildings; therefore, decisions about design, construction, use, maintenance, renovation, demolition, reuse and recycling of buildings have a huge impact on the sustainable development of our society. Technical aspects, however, should be supported by adequate policies, developed with appropriate tools and driven by meaningful challenges. For people involved in sustainable buildings, the conceptual frameworks, studies and experiences collected in this volume, organized into three parts - "Policies", "Tools" and "Challenges" - will help to advance knowledge allowing them to adopt and more efficiently implement such innovations sooner.

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Preface. Part I: Policies. 1. Planning in evolution; D. Borri. 2. Integrating expert and common knowledge for sustainable housing management; E. Conte, V. Monno. 3. Sustainable building policies: exploring the implementation gap; E. van Bueren. 4. Eco-labelling for buildings; A. Blum, et al. 5. Bioclimatic technologies in Mediterranean Countries; N. Cardinale, et al. 6. Actions towards professionals and the general public to overcome the barriers to the development of bioclimatic technologies; D. Raulin, D. Flahaut. Part II: Tools. 7. Environmental impact assessment methods in the Netherlands; E. van Keeken. 8. The environmental benefits of sustainable housing in the Netherlands; G. Klunder. 9. Modelling environmental complexity for sustainable design practice; M. De Grassi, B. Naticchia. 10. EPIQR-TOBUS: a new generation of refurbishment decision aid methods; F. Flourentzou, et al. 11. Support measures for sustainable building; A. Lerario, N. Maiellaro. Part III: Challenges. 12. Research in construction engineering and technology: the international context; V. Esposti. 13. The life cycle of building; P. Schmid. 14. Sustainable construction: some economic challenges; R. Bon. 15. On the way towards sustainable building; P. Huovila.