Green construction and urban planning in Colombia. A regard at the policy framework

Abstract

Conceiving and producing our cities in urban or architectural terms implies responsible thinking about environmental conditions. Hence the importance of knowing and having tools and normative instruments that aim at a sustainable growth of cities. This paper explores the current institutional framework in the Colombian context, related to the environment and sustainability in terms of architecture and urban design, from the scope of national policies, planning instruments, manuals and normative documents. This analysis shows the need to integrate the partial approaches developed by these instruments in one with a comprehensive and systemic vision. It is also important to strengthen the control mechanisms to accomplish the required measures and the advances in the search for sustainability can be quantified in the construction sector in Colombia.