Design Criteria in Site PlanningCommunities often look to the development of open land into commercial or residential uses as a means of increasing the tax base and zoning as a means of assigning development rights to a community. Often public and private land uses share the same objectives of management. Please present both sides of the issues relevant to developmental rights and land use as a collective right of the community that a potential developer must purchase and/or be given.
Sustainable Design Process and Practices
Scott Weaver
Everglades University
Dr. Joseph Burgett
Construction Layout Planning BCN4284
March 20, 2022
Sustainable Design Process and Practices
Product
design, architecture, interior design, and graphic design are just a few fields
that have utilized sustainable design in their work. When it comes to the
design process, sustainability means taking into account natural resources and
using an ecologically friendly approach. Businesses are implementing
environmentally sound practices, government agencies, and non-governmental got
to improve the future of humanity by reducing the dependence on Earth’s
resources. More sophisticated design concepts make sustainable design
implementation simpler for businesses and governments. IKEA, for example, is
taking considerable measures toward developing environmentally friendly items
and structures. Sustainability has been a priority for many governments that
develop national design policies.
Environmentally Friendly Building Design
Most
developments have taken place about building without regard to the intricate
linkages between built environments and natural systems. However, with current
technology and economies of scale, it is possible to achieve best-practice
performance while protecting historical values by going above the essential
standards. Additionally, a wide range of perspectives on sustainable design may
be found in academic publications, practice assessments, and government and
non-profit reports. However, there is no agreed-upon definition of what
constitutes a sustainable design or construction.
The
building’s embodied energy and the building’s LCC and LCA may be assessed in
addition to the direct effect of running the structure. As per Ebrahim and
Wayal (2019), there are three types of life cycle assessment (LCA):
cost-benefit analysis (CC), life cycle assessment (LCA), analysis of the
environmental and resource effect of individual materials, products, or the
whole building. To understand the impact of a building, eco designers like
Pliny Fisk and Kenneth Yeang use a combination of LCC and LCA studies (Goubran
& Cucuzzella, 2019). For example, Fisk employs the eco-balance technique to
assess how many natural resources are required for the building’s inhabitants
and the activities or tasks necessary for the building’s operation.
How Design Contributes to Long-Term Sustainability
Designers
must recognize the importance of their work in achieving a more sustainable
future. One of the responsibilities of a designer is to come up with new and
creative ways to tackle challenges. Goubran and Cucuzzella (2019) note that designers
play a significant role in addressing the severe difficulties the planet
confronts due to the uncontrolled use of natural resources and replacing
outdated items with innovative and sustainable ones that may guarantee lower
resource consumption and less waste.
Taking a
systemic approach to product development may help an organization or business
reveal hidden abilities to identify and implement new or improved tactics for
product development. Designers are working with their colleagues to produce
eco-friendly materials for the bricks while ensuring that they have the same
features and durability (Ebrahim & Wayal, 2019). Therefore, it is the
designer’s job to be involved from the beginning of the development process to
assessing the finished product and customer feedback. Therefore, product and
structural designers should ensure that sustainability is considered at every
step of product development.
Undeniably,
environmentally friendly design principles are crucial in maintaining
sustainable practices. Nothing beats a well-designed product’s form as the
defining characteristic of aesthetic appeal. To determine how a product’s
condition affects energy consumption, the designer should address questions
such as, “How will the size influence packaging, transportation costs, and
fuel emissions?” (Herrera, Mourgues, Alarcón, & Pellicer, 2019). For
example, IKEA’s flat packaging method lowered transportation costs, fuel
consumption, and pollutants (Ebrahim & Wayal, 2019). Efficacy and
convenience are crucial in enhancing sustainable design. Indirectly, the
product’s functionality and usability contribute to its sustainability by
making it easier to use and requiring less time and energy on the user’s part.
Waste and throwaways may be reduced by creating items that are easy to use
rather than ones that are too difficult for people to utilize.
Solutions that are both Economical and Effective
Since
sustainable produ8cts and structures are sometimes more expensive than their
non-sustainable counterparts, many consumers are reluctant to invest in them.
As a result, lowering the price of present sustainable goods is the
responsibility of the designers and decision-makers. For instance, designers
should focus on alternative energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines
(Wayal, 2019). As with energy, sustainable design relies heavily on finding
materials that can be readily recycled or regenerated by the Earth in a short
period. IKEA uses mixed woods and new materials to replace conventional timbers
that take a long time to develop in the forest. The use of recycled and
composite materials may also lower the cost of a product.
Design Options That Will Stand the Test of Time
In achieving
zero waste, products must either be long-lasting or recyclable before being
turned into new ones. It is possible to recycle items several times and reduce
our dependency on Earth’s resources. Evaluation and improvement are critical in
any design process. Still, their relevance is magnified when evaluating and
improving sustainable efforts so that they achieve the same or more outstanding
quality than current goods. Designers may rely on the ideas above while
creating a long-lasting product or service (Ebrahim & Wayal, 2019). With
the considerations above in mind, the following design principles are
all-inclusive. These aspects should be considered in making any product or service—several
factors to consider, including consumer safety and cultural context, regarding
product design (Goubran & Cucuzzella, 2019). The absence of respect for
sustainable principles may contribute to some of the challenges sustainable
products face. Thus, sustainable goods must satisfy customers’ demands and be
competitively priced with similar items on the market to allow faster adoption.
Strategies
Promoting Sustainability
According to
Goubran and Cucuzzella (2019), human-caused carbon dioxide emissions constitute
the primary cause of the environment’s adverse impact. As a result, experts
have to plan and prepare for a more uncertain and unpredictable future climate.
There is little doubt that climate change will significantly influence the current
communities and impact the way buildings are planned, erected, and utilized in
the future. Shortly, present and future legislation, planning, and land use
norms and standards will be challenged and re-evaluated. Professionals should
promote adaptive design to increase local climate resilience to face the
difficulties of a changing climate in our built environment (Herrera, Mourgues,
Alarcón, & Pellicer, 2019). As sea levels rise and flooding becomes more
frequent, climate-smart solutions such as adaptive architecture become critical
for coastal communities.
The
concepts, processes, and cycles of nature must be included in sustainable
design. To lessen the environmental impact and, ideally, achieve net-zero
energy performance, it must involve an examination of various forms. A design
approach must go beyond the short-term financial gains and consider the design
as a whole. According to Ebrahim and Wayal (2019), no material should be wasted
in the constructed environment. Hence, an accurate assessment of the building’s
performance requires operations and facilities management. Olawumi and Chan
(2019) further differentiate the traditional-linear processes and the
transitional model in their paper. Monetary costs, scheduling limitations, and
quality are often prioritized in the linear model. Therefore, technical advice
should be incorporated into the design early on to evaluate schematic designs
before construction to improve overall building performance.
Tacit
knowledge may be replaced by simulation and a diverse team in the design
process. According to Ebrahim and Wayal (2019), the focus on sustainability and
evidence-based design is becoming more prevalent in modern architectural
design. Evidence-based design is introduced to create high-performance workplaces.
Goubran and Cucuzzella (2019) focus on how designers and building owners might
create better structures; they provide critical analysis of credible research
mixed with the thorough observation of constructed projects.
It is
evident that prescriptive requirements in building rules and regulations
majorly contribute to the sustainability issue. Many laws, however, are now
being revised to meet performance criteria. All stakeholders are included in
the design process from the beginning, and the process is managed to ensure
that the performance criteria are met (Herrera, Mourgues, Alarcón, &
Pellicer, 2019). A multidisciplinary team makes a significant effort in the
early phases of the design process to identify design and performance criteria
and work together to meet those needs (Olawumi & Chan, 2019). Rather than
being just a computational tool, building performance simulation encompasses a
whole process that begins considerably earlier and finishes much later.
Agreement on performance standards and measurement methods is the first phase,
followed by logical design choices that take into account trade-offs between
competing or difficult-to-meet performance goals, all within time and money
constraints. According to Ebrahim and Wayal (2019), over-engineered models and
time-consuming simulation runs might be detrimental; thus, educating the
decision-making process is vital.
In
summation, climate change will significantly influence the current communities,
and it will also impact the way buildings or products are planned and utilized
in the future. Further, all stakeholders should include in the design process
to ensure that the performance criteria are met. However, failure to adhere to
eco-friendly design principles may contribute to some serious environmental
challenges.
References
Ebrahim, A., & Wayal, A. S. (2019). Green BIM for sustainable design
of buildings. In International Conference on Reliability, Risk
Maintenance and Engineering Management (pp. 185-189). Springer, Singapore.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8507-0_28
Goubran, S., & Cucuzzella, C. (2019). Integrating the sustainable
development goals in building projects. Journal of sustainability
research, 1(e190010), 1-43. Retrieved on March 17, 2022
from 10.20900/jsr20190010
Herrera, R. F., Mourgues, C., Alarcón, L. F., & Pellicer, E. (2019).
An assessment of lean design management practices in construction
projects. Sustainability, 12(1), 19. Retrieved on March
17, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010019
Olawumi, T. O., & Chan, D. W. (2019). An empirical survey of the
perceived benefits of executing BIM and sustainability practices in the built
environment. Construction Innovation. Retrieved on March 17, 2022,
from https://doi.org/10.1108/
