Sustainable Housing Development - Essay Example

Sustainable Housing Development Table of Contents Literature Review 3 References 12 Literature Review Sustainability is one of those major issues that have been given significant importance over the last decade. The term has been thoroughly investigated by different individual experts as well as different institutions. Several definitions of ‘sustainability’ have been proposed by them. Veiderman stated that “sustainability is a vision of the future that provides us with a road map and helps us focus our attention on a set of values and ethical and moral principles by which to guide our actions” (Munier, 2005). Often the word ‘sustainability’ is found to be associated with another word which is ‘development’. The term ‘sustainable development’ is perhaps one of the most important terms in the context of global society. World Commission on Environment and Development defined ‘sustainable development’ as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Munier, 2005). Often people think that ‘sustainable development’ is synonymous with ‘economic development’. However the concept of sustainable development is applied to every area. Fundamentally there are three major areas that are addressed by sustainable development. These are People who are living today must be entitled to equal rights and justice Environmental degeneration has to be eliminated or alleviated; and Future generations should not be impoverished because of current actions (Redclift, 1987). In the present era when activities are more involved in destructions rather than constructions, it is very important to have sustainable development in both economic and social sectors. Housing development is basically a part of both social as well as economic development of the region. As a result sustainable housing development has to be considered crucial if the objectives regarding sustainable economic and social development are needed to be achieved. Housing can be seen as a basic human need and it is one of the major issues in the everyday life of people. In 1948, United Nations stated that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services…” (Bakar, A. H. et al, n.d.). Housing initiatives have to be socially acceptable, economically viable, environmentally compatible and technically feasible in order to achieve sustainability. Sustainable housing has been defined in several different ways by different experts and organizations. The European Union provided a definition from three different perspectives – economy and society (e.g. psychological impacts and affordability), construction (e.g. construction quality) and eco-efficiency (e.g. efficient and effective use of non-renewable resources). It is found that most of the definitions that are provided so far are on the basis of the concept of principle 15 of a declaration made in the United Nations Conference. This conference was on Human Environment. According to this principle “Planning must be applied to human settlements and urbanization with a view to avoiding adverse effects on the environment and obtaining maximum social, economic and environmental benefits for all” (Bakar, A. H. et al, n.d.). A sustainable house is likely to be comfortable and cost-efficient, cheap to maintain. In the developing countries the concept of “sustainable housing” is a new one (Ebsen & Ramboll 2000). According to John, Jeronimidis and Croome, sustainable housing is referred to the housing practices that endeavour for achieving integral quality (including social, environmental and economic performance) in a broad way (John, Croome & Jeronimidis, 2005). Sustainable buildings are those whose loads on the environment are controllable enough for maintaining the ecosystem. In the present global environment, sustainability of housings is limited to the focus on efficiency in the use of resources and contribution to global warming. Sustainable design of housing is expected to help in identifying the best building components and materials at the cheapest price. Sustainability of housing development is actually multidimensional in nature. ‘Multi-dimensional’ means that the sustainability of housing development is dependent on the impact that is caused by the building’s life cycle on the environment. In addition to that sustainability also depends on the quality of the indoor and outdoor environment (Lopez ed, 2008). Sustainable urban infrastructure is referred to the infrastructure that helps the towns and cities in achieving a convenient and comfortable living which is in complete harmony with the environment where current population lives and the environment where the future population is expected to live. Gerilla, Teknomo and Hokao believe that “sustainable housing development means the achievement of harmony between the indoor environment of a house and its outdoor environment for the comfortable and convenient living of the current residents and its future residents” (Lopez ed, 2008). According to them there are several factors that are needed to be considered or given importance in the process of assessing the sustainability of a particular housing development program. These factors are described below. Environment Maintaining the quality of the site environment is very important in order to achieve the objective of sustainability. A sustainable housing development means quality of both outdoor and indoor environment is protected and maintained. Now the quality of environment is basically referred to the quality of air and noise. In addition to that thermal quality as well as illumination quality of outdoor and indoor environment is also considered (Lopez ed, 2008). Social In a sustainable housing, residents are expected to feel a sense of closeness with each other. A feel of ‘community’ is likely to be there in a sustainable housing. Moreover there must be certain quality of a sustainable housing in terms of availability of some necessary services. Factors like community participation, employment centres, proximity of educational institutions and health centres are also needed to be considered while building a sustainable housing (Lopez ed, 2008). Economic The cost associated with the development of the housing project also act as an influencing factor in determining the sustainability. In addition to the cost factors like income generation, value of the land, availability of the housing and affordability of the housing are also considered to be crucial economic factors that make major contribution in the process of achieving the sustainability (Lopez ed, 2008). Technological In this technology driven age, it is quite natural that the technology will play a crucial role in the process of developing a sustainable housing. Technology has a crucial role to play in saving the energy. Various technological factors that are needed to be considered are alternative fuel usage, appliances used for saving energy, material construction technology and construction technology (Lopez ed, 2008). Ecological Ecological factor is referred to natural environment. Natural waterfronts, landscape, greenery, birds, animals, are important ecological factors that influence the sustainability of the housing (Lopez ed, 2008). Political/Institutional The process of sustainable housing development is dependent on the institutions and political parties that are associated with the planning process and implementation of that planning. City planning office, national planning office, homeowners’ association and housing developer are directly involved in the planning and implementation process of sustainable housing. Each of these above mentioned factors are closely related to each other. According to the result of the research that was conducted by Gerilla, Teknomo and Hokao, environment is the most important factor followed by technology and society. Among various environmental factors, outdoor air quality and indoor air quality are found to be the most important and therefore a good design that facilitates the air circulation and air flow in the house is crucial. As far as technological factors are concerned devices that are used for saving energy in the house ought to be used in the process of construction. Furthermore recyclable and improved materials are also needed to be used in the construction. Proximity to educational institutions and health centres is crucial for achieving social sustainability. Designers, politicians, consultants and contractors must focus on all the sub-factors and factors that are likely to play an important role in the process of sustainable housing development (Lopez ed, 2008). Sustainable housing development does not only mean the sustainability in the development phase rather it refers to the sustainability in household as well. Now sustainability in household is further referred to the sustainability in the resources that are used in the household. Sustainable household It is found that a significant portion of the total population in the world live in the urban areas. In the light of this fact individual households are likely to play important role in the consumption of valuable resources like energy, water, land etc. In a sustainable household use of these valuable resources is expected to be controlled. There are several measures that can be effective in helping in the reduction of dependency on these resources (Munier, 2005). Water There is an international indicator that determines the requirement of water for hygiene, washing, cooking etc. in case of an individual. However it cannot be applied everywhere just because it is an international indicator. Countries like Canada which is full of fresh water should not be compared to countries like India where lack of availability of fresh water is a huge problem. There are several measures that can be adopted in order to have sustainability in the use of water. In order to avoid excessive water consumption better designed toilets that require less amount of water at the time of flushing should be used. Special nozzles can also be used in order to reduce the consumption of water. Identifying and eliminating leaks and fixing low flow valves are also important. In some places even dry toilets where wastes are biologically degraded, are used with the purpose of reducing the water consumption. Gathering rainwater and then using that in gardening is also an effective way of both using and saving water. Water sustainability is important for recovering crucial nutrients like phosphorus (Munier, 2005). Solid Waste An important characteristic of a sustainable household is reduction in the volume of waste. Nolberto Munier said that recycling is an effective way of reducing waste. Recycling of bottles, tin cans, aluminium, paper, plastic can effectively reduce the volume of waste. Large items like batteries, cars, tires, motor oil etc. can be returned to the manufacturers for the purpose of reuse. Wastes that are generated in the household kitchen can be collected and kept to compost in the containers that are made of inexpensive plastic (Munier, 2005). Energy Energy is one of the rarest resources and its use should be controlled in effective manner. Energy is heavily used in the household for various purposes starting from lighting the house to cooking the meal. The use of energy can be controlled with some permanent fixtures like installation of insulation at the time of construction of roof and walls. In case of older houses efficient furnaces can be installed for saving energy. Actions like shutting off lights and heating dampers, frequent changing of furnace filters and electric lights and installation of power saving bulbs are likely to be effective in saving energy by a significant amount. Computers that are in heavy use in today’s age are great consumer of energy. As a result effective use of advanced computer technologies is crucial for sustainability in energy use (Munier, 2005). Land use Land use is another major issue that needs to be given proper importance. An equilibrium or balance has to be achieved between people and land. Many experts believe that construction of high towers is a close-to-perfect solution. Construction of tall towers might be able to increase the density, but as far as sustainable density is considered, it is perhaps not the best solution that people have. This is because high-rises require high speed elevators and strong water pumps that are likely to increase the use of energy by a significant amount. Engineers, architects and city planners throughout the world must need to consider all these aspects before making any final decision (Munier, 2005). Researchers have thoroughly investigated various criteria for sustainable housing development. It is revealed from relevant literature that researchers have identified three basic themes or aspects of sustainable construction. These are social, economic and environmental. Relevant literature also suggests that researchers have found out some crucial characteristics or features of sustainable housing. Winston, for example, opined that important factors that characterize sustainable housing include planning of sustainable land-use, higher residential densities, closeness of the housing to public transport, availability and affordability of housing, sustainable construction, excellent quality of residential environment and accessibility of green space. Most of the sustainable building indicators are derived from various conceptual models (Winston & Pareja, 2008). According to Blaauw there are certain environmental themes for sustainable housing. These are efficient use of materials, water, energy, indoor and outdoor environment and traffic (Blaauw, drs. 1997). Building Environmental Science & Technology (B.E.S.T) designed a guideline regarding residential green buildings. This guideline includes four ‘re’ factors which are reduce, re-use, recycle and renewable. The guideline says that resources like water and energy are needed to be used efficiently, indoor air quality must be healthy, a sense of well-being must be created and home must be reasonably affordable (Building Environmental Science & Technology, n.d.). Bennett and James opined that effective measurement of sustainability should include the measurement of social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainability. Criteria of social sustainability includes healthy internal environment, provision of social amenity, safety, provision of recreation amenity and accessibility of amenities and jobs. On the other hand criteria regarding economic sustainability include cost efficiency, affordability, adaptability, job creation and development of local economy. Finally, according to Bennett and James, environmental sustainability should be measured on the basis of water efficiency, energy efficiency, reduction in the emission of green house gas, waste management, material efficiency, conservation and optimization of land, enhancement and protection of biodiversity and reduction in car dependency (Bennett & James 1999). It is needless to say that a sustainable housing development is actually the result of the combination of sustainable society, sustainable economy and sustainable environment. References Bakar, A. H. et al, No Date, Project Management Success Factors For Sustainable Housing: A Framework, [pdf] Available at: http://eprints.usm.my/16076/1/ICCI09-_14_aidah_awang.pdf [Accessed on May 24, 2010] Blaauw, drs. 1997, Werkboek Duurzaam Bouwen en Wonen. Alphen aan de Rijn: HD Tjeenk Willink bv. Bennett M. & James P. 1999. Sustainable Measures: Evaluation and Reporting of Environmental and Social Performance. Greenleaf. Building Environmental Science & Technology (B.E.S.T.). No Date, Resource Efficient Buildings, Green Building: Builders, Consumers and Realtor Primer [Online] Available at: http://www.energybuilder.com/greenbld.htm#top [Accessed on May 24, 2010] Ebsen C. & Ramboll B. 2000. International Review Of Sustainable Low-Cost Housing Projects Proceedings: Strategies for a Sustainable Built Environment, Pretoria, John. G., Croome D.C & Jeronimidis G. 2005, Sustainable building solutions: a review of lessons from the natural world. Building and Environment, 40(3): pp 317-326. Lopez, R. A. 2008, Progress in sustainable development research, Nova Publishers Munier, N. 2005, Introduction to sustainability: road to a better future, Springer Redclift, M. 1987, Sustainable Development: Exploring the Contradictions, Routlegde Winston N. & Pareja M., 2008. Sustainable Housing in the Urban Context: International Sustainable Development Indicator Sets and Housing, Social Indicators Research; p211-221, Vol. 87, Issue 2 Read More