Across the globe, population growth, economic development, urbanisation and migration have led to a large scale proliferation in construction. According to UN Habitat, we are experiencing a worldwide migration of populations from rural areas to cities and smaller urban areas. Moreover, this trend is likely to continue, with cities across both developed and developing nations expected to be the subject of further population growth in the future. As a result, all forms of construction activities are expected to become more intense than ever in order to accommodate this trend in the years to come.
Usually, the development of urban areas suffers from weak processes of planning and control, which in turn lead to bad housing conditions, poor sanitation systems, limited electricity and water supply, and often poverty. These issues combined with a high population growth rate, environmental degradation, global warming and natural limits on non-renewable resources highlight the importance of sustainable housing for the survival of humankind.
Social constructs
Building construction and operation have extensive direct and indirect impacts on the environment. Buildings use resources such as energy, water and raw materials, generate a variety of wastes and emit potentially harmful gases, with the environmental impacts of buildings taking place throughout the six stages of a building’s lifecycle:
- Design process
- Material or product manufacture
- Distribution
- Construction phase
- Operation
- Refurbishment or demolition
60% of the world’s electricity is consumed by residential and commercial buildings; in developed countries, space heating accounts for 60% of residential energy consumption and water heating for 18%. Therefore, radical changes must be made in the design and performance of buildings to reduce energy consumption and the corresponding environmental impacts through improvements to efficiency and the use of renewable energies.
In many countries, sustainable construction methods are being adopted to lead the building industry towards sustainable development and provide residents with a better quality of living environment. In essence, sustainable building design and construction are aimed at diminishing the environmental impacts of buildings over their entire lifetime by paying attention to environmental, socio-economic and cultural issues.
Turning buildings green: sustainable construction may be a better way to achieve green benefits. Photo by Daderot, via Wikimedia Commons.
Design is money
Both developed and developing nations are facing sustainable housing and urbanisation challenges, but the challenges for each are different. Currently, industrialised countries are the highest contributors in terms of CO2 emissions; however, developing countries are expected to take the lead in global warming in the near future. Developing countries are experiencing fast-paced urbanisation while at the same time slums and informal settlements are also expanding rapidly, which makes the development of sustainable housing a difficult proposition.
Countries around the world are taking steps towards implementing sustainable design in the building sector. However, most of them are still far from reaching their intended targets. The major barriers to implementing energy efficiency in the building sector include:
- Economic and financial issues
- Structural characteristics of political, economic and energy systems
- Lack of awareness and information
However, different countries adopt different approaches to sustainable construction and set different priorities depending on their economic condition. Nations with high economic growth are developing sustainable buildings which make use of the latest technologies and innovations. On the other hand, developing countries have economic sustainability and social equality as their foremost considerations. In fact, developing countries are only moving slowly towards – and in some cases are even moving away from – adopting sustainable housing strategies.
Even within an individual region, the differences can be striking. Take the Middle East, an area I have looked at in some detail. Here, economic considerations dominate for oil and gas-rich GCC countries as they protect their oil and gas export reserves by investing in new ways to boost energy efficiency and lower energy consumption. However for less affluent countries, such as Jordan, lack of indigenous energy resources and high energy costs are the primary reasons for implementing sustainable design strategies.
For countries of all kinds, therefore, there are good economic reasons to prioritise environmental sustainability alongside economic sustainability. Implementing sustainable design strategies enables us to build housing and workspaces which are in fact cheaper in the long term. With the populations of cities set to rise even further, it’s an investment which makes sense.
We are grateful to EcoMENA for the opportunity to reproduce this article, a version of which first appeared here. EcoMENA is a website focused on raising awareness of renewable energy, sustainability, waste management, environment protection, energy efficiency and resource conservation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Leave A Comment