Initiating Eco-Friendly Building: Steps for Urban Governments to Adopt Sustainable Construction Methods
Ready to revolutionize urban landscapes? Learn how city authorities can leverage sustainable construction practices to create our eco-friendly, economically viable, and socially beneficial cities of the future.
Here's the blueprint to transform your locality into a model of sustainability:
Establish Ambitious Goals
Set clear, realistic objectives that exceed minimum requirements. Aspiring for less is simply settling for mediocrity. BREEAM, the building environment assessment standard, stresses the importance of going beyond the bare minimum, recommending that regulations require buildings to surpass initial guidelines.
"Developers usually construct buildings according to minimum standards."
Strike a balance between realistic expectations and challenging the status quo.
Sample objectives to consider:
- Setting a specific percentage of natural building materials per project.
- A set number of sustainable buildings to be constructed annually.
- Setting a date after which traditional construction methods will no longer be permitted.
- Designating a budget to foster job creation, awareness campaigns, and youth training opportunities.
Seek Expert Advice
External agencies can provide valuable assessments for sustainable building practices, but their expertise may not be consistently accessible. Incorporate qualified professionals into city planning departments to ensure continuity, minimize service wait times, and promote a convenient, one-stop consultancy for developers, contractors, and citizens alike.
Foster Education and Training
As the low-carbon economy grows at a rapid pace, the demand for contemporary construction skills soars. Initiates such as the UK's Climate Change Committee recommend offering support for training designers, builders, and installers to help meet Paris Agreement targets. Collaborate with local training providers to create accessible, flexible educational programs for students and professionals seeking in-job or back-to-work retraining.
Encourage Pledges and Commitments
Inspire local stakeholders to embrace sustainability by empowering them with opportunities for self-driven change. Sustainable building events, such as Greenbuild, encourage attendees to make small commitments to promoting sustainable practices. Offer a city-based pledge option for local developers, housing associations, construction firms, and suppliers to adopt sustainable design solutions and commit to reducing their carbon footprint.
Provide Regulations and Incentives
Lack of regulations can stifle sustainable growth in the construction industry, but businesses actively invested in green building practices may face additional costs and approval processes. Streamline regulations, cut red tape, and offer incentives to offset upfront costs and encourage developers to pursue sustainable building practices.
Consider adopting two strategies suggested by the paper Sustainable Building Through Project Planning Process:
- Set mandatory sustainability criteria to ensure developers abide by green building standards.
- Provide financing or consultation opportunities to make sustainable building practices more accessible rather than a financial burden.
Make Use of Technology and Innovation
Implement cutting-edge technologies to enhance building efficiencies and reduce environmental impact. Smart city solutions can optimize building performance and resource use, contributing to a more resilient urban infrastructure.
Collaborate with Stakeholders
Inclusivity is key to crafting effective policies that serve the entire community. Bring together all relevant groups – including those who may be most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – to address sustainable development challenges collectively. Public-private partnerships can facilitate collaboration, enable resource sharing, and drive progress towards environmental stewardship.
The Final Word
Leading by example, city authorities play a pivotal role in shaping a more sustainable construction industry. Embrace natural materials, efficient planning strategies, and modern technologies to set a powerful standard for future generations and cultivate vibrant, eco-friendly communities.
Sources:
[1] Building Green: A Guide to Sustainable Home Building. (2009). Construction Specifications Institute.
[2] The Role of Green Building Policy in Supporting City Climate Action. (2020). ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
[3] Green Building Best Practices for Cities. (2020). International Finance Corporation.
[4] The United Nations Urban Observatory: The New Urban Agenda. (2017). United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
[5] Sustainable Building through Project Planning Process. (2017). Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 149, pp. 177–190.
- The building environment assessment standard, BREEAM, advocates for surpassing initial guidelines in sustainable construction practices.
- Developers usually construct buildings according to minimum standards, but cities can set specific objectives to promote more sustainable practices.
- Expert advice from external agencies can help cities implement sustainable building practices, so incorporating qualified professionals into city planning departments is beneficial.
- Education and training programs for designers, builders, and installers are necessary to meet the growing demand for contemporary construction skills.
- Offering incentives and streamlining regulations can encourage developers to adopt sustainable building practices, reducing their carbon footprint.
- Smart city solutions can optimize building performance,resource use, and contribute to a more resilient urban infrastructure.
- Public-private partnerships can foster collaboration, resources sharing, and drive progress towards environmental stewardship.
- City authorities have a crucial role in shaping a more sustainable construction industry by setting a powerful standard for future generations and cultivating vibrant, eco-friendly communities.
- Lifestyle choices, such as adopting sustainable-living practices, can also help reduce an individual's carbon footprint, contributing to the overall goal of promoting sustainable cities.
- Data and cloud-computing, finance, education, technology, and careers in environmental science, as well as sports and sports-betting, all have a role to play in supporting a low-carbon economy and sustainable cities.
