RESPONSIVE BUILDINGS ENVELOPE INTEGRATION IN SUSTAINABLE NEW CITIES PLANNING STRATEGIES

ELSHAFEI, MOHAMED; ABDELAZIZ, HEBA

doi:10.21608/erj.2023.289032

RESPONSIVE BUILDINGS ENVELOPE INTEGRATION IN SUSTAINABLE NEW CITIES PLANNING STRATEGIES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

MOHAMED ELSHAFEI ¹
HEBA ABDELAZIZ ²

¹ Architectural Engineering & Environmental Design / College of Engineering & Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Cairo, Egypt

² Architectural Engineering Department / College of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

10.21608/erj.2023.289032

Abstract

Abstract
“Cities Are Part of the Climate Change Problem, But They Are Also a Key Part of the Solution”
(Robert, 2009) Cities nowadays responsible for the larger part of global energy consumption,
therefore major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, cities have key
capabilities to act on global climate change through their responsibilities over urban sectors like
buildings. With the growing importance of the environment as a global issue, sustainability has
been adopted as a common political goal, the United Nations world commission of environment
and development defined sustainability as the ability of meeting the present needs without
affecting the future generations capabilities to meet their own needs. The Responsive building
envelopes are expected to play a significant role in new sustainable cities urban planning
principles as a part of problem solving by preventing energy consumption in buildings, thus the
urban environment as well, also they’re valuable to boost the balance between several energy
flows at single- and multi building scale, in addition to optimize user experience and indoor
comfort by providing an interactive interface with the outdoors. Using responsive buildings
envelopes could be utilized as a mean of decreasing carbon emissions in urban environment and
can be integrated into sustainable new cities planning strategies. The aim of this research is
investigating the role of responsive building facades in new sustainable urban planning and
setting out planning strategies for new cities to design a network of responsive buildings in order
to reduce urban energy consumption.

Keywords