Eco-Cultural Design Assessment Framework and Tool for Sustainable Housing Schemes

Abstract

Assessment tools such as BREEAM and LEED are widely used to assess physical indicators of building performance from the micro- to the mesoscale. However, the built environment represents both intangible and tangible sets of indicators that should be understood within its context. Therefore, this project proposes a prototype Eco-cultural design assessment framework and tool to enhance the process of sustainable housing development that meets the residents’ socio-cultural needs whilst avoiding unwanted environmental impacts. A qualitative research design approach was adopted. The tool was developed using data derived from interviews with 81 participants from two comparative case studies of vernacular and contemporary housing in Jordan. Results showed that indicators related to wellbeing and local culture were the most discussed by participants and were associated with sustainable architecture. The tool was designed to encapsulate these findings and evaluated for its completeness and usability by 38 architects from Jordan. Results indicate that participants had positive feedback, and they deemed the tool content useful and practical for integrating Eco-cultural design indicators within architectural practice in Jordan. The research outputs are novel and significant in that they translated qualitative socio-cultural indicators into tangible design guidelines that can be effectively incorporated into existing sustainable building assessment frameworks.