Science: Building Green Cities [Report]

Singapore has a long history as a green city – but a tripartite partnership could help developing countries in Asia begin a journey towards climate change resilience. [This is a feature story published in the Tri-Sector Publication 2018 by Singapore Management University (SMU)]

In 1967, Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, presented his vision of "garden city" to turn the island-state into a lush, green, and clean city. Over the years, Singapore has shaped this dream by planting trees and designing parks that reduce air pollution and surface runoff – and "green buildings" have become a major priority in the country. during the last decade

. The green building works with its natural environment to have a positive impact on its occupants and the natural environment, "says Karen Lee Miao Xuan, who recently completed her Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration at SMU. "It also puts the emphasis on the efficient use of resources, including energy, water and building materials."

Karen's job is to develop the sustainability expertise of a leading global flooring manufacturer. She believes Asian developing countries need to follow the example of Singapore and adopt green building practices and technologies to make their cities more resilient to climate change. This goal, she says, could be achieved through a platform, established by a tripartite partnership, to share information on green building assessment tools, best practices and financial incentives to adopt. energy-saving technologies. an important role in contributing to climate change, given its massive energy consumption and carbon emissions, "says Karen. In 2010, for example, buildings accounted for 32% of global final energy consumption and 19% of carbon dioxide emissions related to energy. "But it also means opportunities for us, particularly in Asia: a region with as much potential as long as existing and underutilized systems are operated more efficiently," she says.

Establishment of the Main Partnership

In her master's project, Karen describes how she thinks that this trisectoral collaboration and information-sharing platform could be established

. It would be crucial to include real estate developers, architectural firms and building technology companies as they could share best practices and technological advances in sustainability. Joining the partnership would allow them to present various projects, receive recognition for their tireless work in advancing the sustainability agenda and increasing their competitive edge in the green building sector.

From civil society, it aims to include green building councils in Southeast Asia, as they could provide the latest information on green building trends and educate industry professionals on the tools rating and certification requirements. The architectural schools of the region could also contribute by highlighting the latest research in this area. Together, these partners will conduct green design competitions, activities and internships for architecture students.

Finally, from the public sector, government agencies involved in the establishment and enforcement of building regulations in Asia would be invited to participate. for green building in their respective countries. By forging partnerships with the private sector, these organizations would be better able to test the effectiveness of their policies on the ground and understand the market's feelings.

Setting Measurable Goals

The partnership will begin with a core group of pioneering members formulating policies for the design, implementation and management of the sharing platform. ; information. The group will also develop mechanisms to measure project success and protect intellectual property rights.

Inviting partners to articulate their respective needs for collaboration will be critical to building trust, transparency and satisfaction. Ideally, small initial collaborative project wins would attract more partners to come by expanding the platform so that it could eventually provide information to the general public about the benefits of living and working in the communities. green buildings.

do much to achieve seven of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by promoting affordable and clean energy solutions, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, responsible consumption and climate change mitigation, among others.

"As ambitious as it may seem, The Partnership Platform aspires to accelerate the movement of green buildings by stimulating significant progress in decoupling economic growth from climate change, poverty and inequality, and contributing to Achieving Sustainable Development Goals, "writes Karen in her thesis, embracing green building policies, Karen believes that government agencies should only impose minimum standards that will lead to the increasing adoption of green building practices over the next decade. private companies can then voluntarily apply best practices, which Karen deduces from this by examining the "theory of complexity", which implies that the systems left to function by themselves end up organizing – in this case, a natural movement towards a green building culture, explains Karen.

"By taking the lead in the search for local certifications of green buildings for buildings and public spaces, the credibility of the logging tools will be greatly improved, which will result in greater trust and greater interest from the private market, "she writes. "A polycentric approach to governance that encourages multi-level experimental efforts may be the most effective way to solve the complex problem of slow adoption of green building solutions in developing Asia."