What is sustainable urban development? Is an article that completes the previous articles 1,2. The article defines what is sustainable urban development? also highlights, and to point to the institutions and commercial publications spread all around the world about policies and guidelines. In addition to sustainable urban development in practice. Finally, some other contradictions of all sustainability in professional work.
Definition of sustainable urban development
Sustainable urban development in institutional and commercial publications
In order to achieve sustainability, you have to balance its three major pillars: the social, economic, and environmental pillars. The social pillar includes several elements about social problems. Such as equity and social welfare. Equity on top of the list requires equal treatment for all society individuals. That’s whether they are from rural areas or the center of cities. Whether they are highly educated or not. Equity means access to jobs and fair provision of them to all individuals. All individuals must receive proper service for their living.
All family members should receive proper and high-quality education to participate in society’s development. The government also to provide access to medical and healthcare services at any time. Service should be affordable to all individuals regardless of their income. All members of society are to be treated fairly and equally, regardless of their color or race.
Deprivation of neighborhoods still remains the top interest in institutional and commercial publications. As per my experience, poverty represents the major cause of deprivation in societies. Fighting poverty in urban development includes many strategies. Studying the area in terms of quality of living, people’s health, education, and jobs, one may find solutions for poverty. Providing support to increase income represents one of the well-known strategies to fight poverty.
The economic pillar, several elements about urban development economic problems. The spread of new development that creates businesses enhances income and access to jobs. Other techniques include encouraging and supporting deprived industries that provide benefits to the economy. Attracting international investment and funds for urban development boosts economic growth performance. That reduces the possibility of a crisis and reduces inflation. And developing economic policy and governments related to economic development.
The environmental pair, as well, includes the use of many techniques and elements in urban development. Protecting and efficient use of natural resources in urban development, such as using recycled materials. Minimizing damage to the three components of the Earth’s soil, air, and water through the use of sustainable building methods. Developing areas to reduce the development impact on health, like minimizing the Generation of dust, sound, and air pollution gases. While doing urban development, protecting endangered species and the ecosystem.
See this UN publication about sustainable urban development, “ Advancing Together: Eight decades of progress towards sustainable development for all ”
What is sustainable urban development in practice?
As per my experience in practice and participating in the development process of mega projects, it’s all about the effective use of resources.
Within the Urban development process, a developer decides to develop. That, based on a specific need, he sees it’s proper to generate benefits. A development program “Requirements” passed to a firm to start the process of design. So the first step, the firm identifies the land for development.
Land represents one of the major elements of urban development. Here, the firm must present a concept design to show the effective use of this land for development. The concept ensures the feasibility of the design and generates proper benefits with limited land development. The firm to consider the techniques of sustainability related to creating mixed-use development to boost economic development.
Regarding this major element, the firm does not get to choose or advise on selecting the land for development. The firm cannot select the land, for example, developing on a Brownfield site, only if the client does that. Nor the firm gates to choose how much of the land to develop or reduce it, that’s what really happens in practice. Firms use various methods and techniques to design the project to reduce its effect on the environment and, consequently, on human health.
The urban development design to minimize the use of the automobile. All urban development must provide sufficient car parks for specific functions. For example, every office in a commercial space and every flat must have at least one parking space. The design must be compatible with TOD techniques. Transit-oriented development focuses on the use of mass transit when it is located near a transport node. Or when the development has access to the public bus transport network.
Let’s show what in the Gulf region firms do, especially the international firms that built the urban development policies and guidelines. The design of any building must adhere to the provision of parking Space. The parking lot for every commercial area or residential area should be on the podium floor or the basement floor. The contradiction of these policies and guidelines lies in that the area of parking, whether it is under the building or on land near the building, is the same thing. The cars, while moving, generate trips every day on the roads, and that is silly and not a clever solution. In this mega development, I worked on our towers as a client representative with an international consultant. Figure 2, on shot of the mega urban development, and it will lead you to the location of it.
In addition, the amount of car park lots the firm translates it into parking areas with internal roads on the basement floors. This ads various negative effects on urban development. The safety issues of the structural design. The safety issues of fire protection for cars and the building structure, and users. Finally, the high cost of Construction, reaching $3500 for M2 of the basement floor and walls area.
The sustainable urban development should minimize the creation of a road network inside the development. That’s due to its effect on increasing hit Iceland effect. Also, encouraging the use of cars and the generation of air pollution, specifically CO2 . Land developed for a road network will not generate benefit of any kind inside the development, rather than car movement. and that is the effective use of land in the sustainable urban development. Also, it generates lots of costs for the client to build the infrastructure and fees needed to be paid to the government.
A mega development plant was supposed to be one of the largest sustainable urban development in the Gulf region in reality failures of all measures all around the development. The firm operating in 400 locations worldwide built this development policies and guidelines. The video below shows a part of the development an orbit view of the development.
Sustainable urban development should create and increase green space in the development or in the building design. The green space increases the permeability required to connect the development paths. It encourages the users to use the space for recreation and in moving and coming to the residence. The green space increases psychological well-being and comforts the human brain with its views. A green space reduces CO2 and increases O2 in the air, and balances the ecosystem.
The development I have mentioned earlier I the Gulf region does not follow any of the policies and guidelines of sustainability. The development does not accommodate but only not more than 1% of the area for green space. So why issue policies and guidelines and talk about sustainability?
Firms doing sustainable urban development must think of encouraging walkability. That means walking roots should be suitable for human use. They should be safe for use in daytime and at night time. They should be comfortable for use in terms of environmental temperature and the shade created to encourage walking. The availability of specific human services along the path, like shops and others, for humans to access when they need.
The use of building materials manufactured is one of the sustainable urban development requirements. Avoiding the use of materials that put more load on the building HVAC system, such as curtain walls. Curtain walls allow more heat to transfer to the indoor space, and the use of the AC system increases. The cost of cooling the space increases, Electricity cost increases, and space rents also increase. Adding to that, the cost of maintenance of the system increases dramatically.
I return here to the development I mentioned earlier, which includes nearly 90% of buildings with all-glass facades, ignoring sustainable urban development requirements. Also, the policies and guidelines built by Institutions and commercial bodies, as well as the firm’s policies and guidelines. The development is an example of the contradictions of that country, show business in various arenas, Seminars, public gatherings, published policies, and guidelines. It’s the illusion of the better and innovative work in the Gulf Region.
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