BAHARASH BAGHERIAN, DESIGNER & FOUNDER OF BAHARASH ARCHITECTURE, PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING THOUGHTS ON DESIGNING SUSTAINABLE CITIES OF THE FUTURE

Designing Sustainable Cities

In my work at Baharash Architecture, every project presents an opportunity for developing creative sustainable solutions, which ultimately become visible design features in the project. A good example of this is our recent commission which was the design for the phase 2 of Dubai Sustainable City. Designing sustainable cities is one of the key challenges for the future as our world becomes increasingly urbanised. For a city to be sustainable it needs to encompass the three main pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Ultimately, the key goal of any sustainable city should be to provide residents and workers with the highest quality of life together with the lowest environmental footprint.  A good sustainable city is one where people want to live, work and visit. Dubai sustainable city has all these qualities. The city offers something for everyone, from an old-souq styled shopping street to amphitheatres, sports fields, planetarium, productive landscapes, spa, resort, and many more variation of building types and experiences. It’s going to be a very special place!

At the early stages of any sustainable project, basic design decisions such as orientation, density and form provide the biggest environmental gains, yet these require the least financial investment. So at the early stages we are able to reduce a large amount of energy demand with little cost.

We also work with the client and consultant team from the beginning of each project to develop a series of sustainable initiatives and targets. These targets will help guide the design in the pursuit of the sustainability goals. We can divide some of these targets into categories such as: Water, Health & Well-being, Energy, Materials, Pollution, Ecology, and Waste.

We can also reduce water consumption by 50% by increasing environmental awareness amongst residents and workers. In Dubai sustainable City there is an excellence centre which will educate and raise awareness amongst residents, and there is also a green curriculum for students in the school.  100% of wastewater is also recycled there onsite.

 

The future of Sustainable Design

Designing for a sustainable future is no longer a choice, it has become a necessity. The future of sustainable design will be about doing as little as possible to achieve as much as possible. So it will still be about passive design, but not just about buildings. It will happen at all scales from products to cities. In fact in my work I have designed sustainable products and infrastructures as well as buildings and cities, because I think it’s important that the next generation of architects and designers are able to design at all different scales to develop a variation of solutions, which is necessary if we are to provide for a higher quality of life.

It’s very important to study our behaviour and actions as human beings in order to truly understand the importance of sustainable cities in the future. In the 1950’s there was only 37 cities with a population of over 1 million people. In 2005 it was estimated that 414 cities around the world had passed the 1 million population mark and this is still increasing today. For the remainder of this century the rise in population in our cities is going to be increasing at a dramatic rate, which coupled with climate change, is going to have a great impact on our cities resources.

Therefore I believe we need to start developing more sustainable solutions at all scales if we are going to provide a future with a high quality of life and to protect the environment.

Ultimately, the United Nations has projected that more than 70% of the world population will be living in urban areas by 2050. Designing sustainable cities of various scales, is no longer a choice!

 

What needs to happen to reduce our environmental footprint?

I believe the best method of promoting sustainability in the UK and across the globe is to integrate sustainability into the educational system by providing green education at both lower and higher educational levels. I also believe that as Designers, Architects and Masterplanners, we all have a duty to raise the environmental awareness through the work that we do. We can start doing this by approaching projects in a creative and informative way. This is why I think it’s important to make a feature out of these sustainable goals. By doing this, we educate people about the benefits of Green Design whilst also advancing our knowledge on designing sustainable cities. This also gives us an opportunity to design unique architecture.

Ultimately I believe that by working holistically together to promote good sustainable design we will enhance the quality of life and protect the natural environment.