The United Nations has made sustainable cities and communities one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This is due to the fact that more than half of the Earth's population currently resides in urban areas and this proportion is expected to increase with the transfer of more than two-thirds of the population to urban areas during the year 2050. This will impact a lot of aspects, but from an environmental perspective, rapid population growth increases the burdens on the environment, such as increasing air and waste pollution in addition to increasing the demand on natural, water and energy resources. hence it was necessary to make building sustainable cities and communities one of the most important goals due to the direct impact it has on the environment.
The challenge is to transform urban spaces, our cities and our way of life into a sustainable lifestyle. This includes supporting efforts towards developing infrastructure, increasing green areas, and using solutions that support sustainability such as water and waste recycling, and the use of renewable energy sources.
The green economy is an economic system that relates to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, and leads to an improvement in human well-being, while not exposing future generations to environmental hazards or environmental scarcities. A green economy involves separating resource use and its impact on the environment, and economic growth, and is characterized by a significant increase in investment in green sectors such as renewable energy and organic agriculture, supported by enabling reforms at the policy level, and focuses on rational use of environmental resources and not to exceed the thresholds of ecosystems and their ability to absorb pollutants. One of the most important elements of a green economy’s success is modernizing laws, raising awareness and providing incentives.
Saudi Building Code: is a system of specialized technical, administrative and legal requirements and requirements that define the minimum standards for construction, in line with the nature of the Kingdom and natural and environmental conditions.
The Saudi Building Code was activated in 2007 to include the architectural requirements in accordance with the chapters of the International Building Code, with the aim of achieving public safety, providing a healthy environment, adequate lighting and ventilation, and rationalizing water and protecting lives and property from the dangers of fires, earthquakes, and other building-related hazards..
The Saudi Building Code encourages the concept of green or environmentally friendly buildings that have efficient use of resources throughout the life cycle of the facility, from site identification, building design, construction, operation and maintenance, to dismantling and removal, in order to achieve the functional and aesthetic requirements of the beneficiaries with the least amount of damage possible to the natural environment by limiting noise, pollution, solid waste and carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to not wasting resources nor endangering human health, physical or psychological well being.
