Abstract
The priorities in the design of more sustainable buildings are quite dependent on the specific social context. In developing countries, the sustainability concept and priorities in the residential buildings sector are quite different from the ones of the developed countries, since there are still basic needs to answer. Therefore, this research is aimed at contributing to a better understanding of the concept of social sustainability in the residential building sector of the developing countries. A methodology to define and prioritise the social sustainability indicators is proposed and applied in the context of Palestine. The presented methodology is based on the sustainability indicators of international standards, on the most well know building sustainability assessment methods and in the analysis of their application to a specific context. It includes a methodology to prioritise the list of social indicators, by considering the expectations of two groups of building stakeholders: designers and building users. At the end, this research proposes a framework of social aspects to consider in the design of more sustainable residential buildings in West Bank, Palestine that is composed of twenty-one indicators, distributed among six sustainability categories and ranked according to their weight in the overall of sustainability level.
Highlights
Sustainability or sustainable development can be identified as a holistic approach that seeks an appropriate balance between the three essential pillars of development at local, national, regional and global levels, covering all economy sectors [1]
The results show the existence of significant differences between the social priorities obtained for the Palestinian residential buildings and the ones defined by the three analysed Building Sustainability Assessment methods (BSA) methods
The international sustainability indicators defined in ISO 21929-1 [12]; The list of indicators of the global Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool) method, considered internationally as the most comprehensive general framework to assess the sustainability of buildings, which system of weights and benchmarks can be adapted to local contexts [36]; Two of the most used building sustainability assessment methods used, at international level, to assess the sustainability of residential buildings, namely: Code for Sustainable Homes Version
Summary
Sustainability or sustainable development can be identified as a holistic approach that seeks an appropriate balance between the three essential pillars of development (environment, society, and economy) at local, national, regional and global levels, covering all economy sectors [1]. Other studies [17,18] concluded that a building sustainability assessment method works as a guide, helping to collect and report information to support decision making during the different stages of the building life-cycle, from the cradle to grave, and allowing the evaluation of the overall building performance These authors agree that these methods can promote the sustainable development by guiding the stakeholders in the principles to consider to maximise the performance at the level of the three primary sustainability development dimensions (environment, society and economic) and in satisfying the requirements for improving the functional and technical performances of buildings. The proposed method is limited to the society dimension because, as argued before, this is an immerging issue in what respects to the West Bank’s residential sector [4,32] and there is a lack of a common understanding regarding the main priorities to consider in the design of a residential building that meets the expectations of its inhabitants
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