Sustainability indices for housing developments

College

Gokongwei College of Engineering

Department/Unit

Civil Engineering

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Progress in Sustainable Development Research

First Page

229

Last Page

241

Publication Date

2007

Publisher

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Abstract

Sustainability is a broad concept which applies to simple until multifaceted systems comprising humans and nature. The linkage between human systems and natural systems is very challenging that several researches are studying its effects and impacts. One complex system pertaining to human systems is the urban system, particularly urban development. Urban development deals with the design and planning of built environment. The growing population leads to the transformation of resource-related land to urban-related use of land such as homes, and buildings. The need for sustainability analysis and particularly for indicators of sustainability is a key requirement to implement and monitor the development of national sustainable development plans, as required by Agenda 21 agreed at UNCED in June 1992. The current indices on sustainable building assessments mainly focus on the environmental impacts of the building. A multidimensional index to assess the sustainability of housing complexes is developed. It not only includes environmental factors but also social, political, economic, technological and ecological elements. The sustainability indicators used are gleaned from existing literature and revised to incorporate the attributes special for housing complexes. The sustainability index is based on the qualitative and quantitative sustainability indicators. The aforementioned factors were further subdivided into sub-factors to be able to clearly and succinctly describe each element. A combined network and regression model was used to develop the sustainability index for housing. The network model captures the tangible and intangible factors of sustainability. A questionnaire survey was also done to determine the priorities of residents with respect to the sustainability of their homes. The environmental impacts of the housing sector were also calculated using the Environmental Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) technique. The regression model combines the intensities of the qualitative nature of the indicators attained from the network model and the real intensities of quantitative factors from the LCA results to develop the sustainability index. The index captures the different interactions of the indicators. Three levels of sustainability are proposed to be able to assess the sustainability of housing. The significance of the indices proposed for sustainability is for evaluation of houses for its sustainability as well as for feasibility studies before construction of housing complexes. It is important to consider the level of satisfaction of the factors for sustainability to reflect stakeholders' perception and behavior.

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Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Keywords

Dwellings—Environmental testing; Sustainable development; Ecological houses; Environmental impact analysis

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