Well-being is a critical element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. Given the complexity of the concept of well-being, it follows that its measurement requires complex, multivariate methods that can characterize the physical, economic, social and environmental aspects along with the mental state of a city. Although it is not sufficient to carry out settlement-level analyses to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It is necessary to understand patterns within settlements. This work aims to present how the urban macrostructure of urban well-being indicators can be estimated based on GIS-based multilayer analysis. Open-source data, e.g. road networks, points of interest, green spaces and vegetation, are used to estimate urban well-being parameters such as noise levels, air quality and health-related impacts supplemented by climate models to assess urban resilience and sustainability. The proposed methodology integrates 24 models into six categories, namely walkability, environment, health, society, climate change and safety, which are weighted based on a multilevel Principal Component Analysis to minimize information loss for aggregated composite indicators. The study revealed two main components of the macrostructure related to well-being in the studied city: one related to the geometrical features and the other can be derived from the structure of the natural environment. In Veszprém a natural restoration of the detached house area, industrial area and downtown is recommended including developments with green and blue infrastructural elements and nature-based solutions.

Among the numerous renewable energy resources, the main advantage of water energy is that it utilizes the current of the streams and rivers regardless of the given time of the day or season. The main purpose of this study was to create a low capacity, floating hydropower plant that is suitable for shallow and even narrow water bodies. The device was designed to create electric energy while floating on the water’s surface; therefore, it can be used not only in natural streams but also in drainage channels and wastewater treatment plants. The prototype was tested under real circumstances to identify the impacts of various settings on the energy efficiency. Measurements were conducted in Veszprém, Hungary on the Brook Séd. The average depth of the riverbed was 36 cm. Based on the field measurements, optimal efficiency was achieved by using six paddles. On the other hand, much lower efficiency was achieved when low (two or three) or high numbers (12 or 15) of paddles were used. A design framework was elaborated that can facilitate the construction of a floating water wheel for any watercourse. The sensitivity analysis of the sizing variables used in the estimation of performance is supported by network analysis techniques.

The Water Framework Directive aims at reaching the good ecological status of the surface and ground water bodies (László et al. Microchem J 85(1):65–71, 2007). The paper deals with quality evaluation of waters with special focus on the water chemistry parameters as defined in the Water Framework Directive and pertaining legal regulations. The purpose of this paper is to devise a quantitative type of water quality assessment method which could provide rapid, accurate, and reliable information on the quality of the surface waters by using water chemistry parameters. Quality classes have been defined for every water chemistry parameter in light of the legal limit values of the water parameters. In addition to this, weight indices were calculated on the basis of the outcome of the paired comparison of water chemistry parameters and normalized matrix. This was followed by the parametric level analysis of the water chemistry parameters, and finally, the aquatic environment index (AEI) was calculated, which provided general information on the quality of water regarding the water chemistry parameters. The method was illustrated on Lake Balaton, Hungary in which case water samples taken from Balatonfüred City lake area were analyzed and evaluated with the method devised.

While the number of installed geothermal heat pump systems is rising legislation is not prepared to address the issues concerning thermal impact. The aim of this paper is to model the effects of geothermal heat pump systems installed to shallow geothermal reservoirs in sedimentary formation based on the results of a real system in order to show the magnitude of the thermal affected zone. The system examined is a standalone geothermal heat pump with a production and an injection well-being able to produce a maximum of 3.4 m³/h groundwater. The thermal impact determined by simulation was 35 m for the standalone system. Two scenarios were considered to define the impact of two neighboring open-loop systems on each other. The results show that if two systems are to be installed on the same reservoir the minimum distance should be 55 m. That indicates that in case of designing systems installed to similar hydrogeological environment should consider the change in the water table and increased thermally affected zone if other groundwater heat pumps are in the area.