A sustainable built environment: the institutional challenges

Transcription

1 A sustainable built environment: the institutional challenges Ellen M. van Bueren Delft University of Technology Interdisciplinary Research Programme The Ecological City Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management P.O. Box GA Delft The Netherlands Phone Telefax First prize winning essay for the 1999 Post-Graduate Essay Competition of Building, Research & Information, The International Journal of Research, Development, Demonstration and Innovation. This essay has been published in: Building Research & Information (2000) 28(1),

2 Abstract Sustainable building is a hot issue in Europe, and in the Northern European countries especially considerable effort has been put into making the built environment more sustainable. Despite various governmental policies on this issue, and the ambitions of the various actors involved, no breakthrough in the sustainability of the built environment has been accomplished as yet. Apparently there are some important barriers in the existing institutional structures and processes within which sustainable building should be achieved. Important institutional barriers for sustainable building are identified in this paper. These barriers will be used to provide the basis for an institutional design to improve sustainability performance of the built environment. Keywords: sustainable development, institutional barriers, policy, implementation 2

3 Introduction Sustainable development, as introduced by the Brundtland commission (WCED 1987), can be marked as the starting point of a third upsurge of environmental awareness. In the Netherlands, as well as in many other countries, this report inspired a new policy approach towards environmental problems. A shift was made from reduction of environmental burdens towards prevention of these problems. Policies and technologies shifted from cleaner technologies towards cleaner production. Causes rather than effects became the subject of environmental policies. (Weale 1992, Hajer 1992, 1995, Mol 1995, Nelissen 1998, etc.) The construction sector was designated one of the target groups in the Dutch National Environmental Policy Plan (Department of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment 1989). The initial target was a reduction of environmental burdens caused by this sector. Main goals were the reduction of waste generated during building and demolition processes, re-use and recycling of waste, and the adaption of environmental techniques and technologies in the design and construction process. The implementation of this new approach was developed in collaboration with the industries concerned, an approach in line with Dutch policy tradition. Specific targets were negotiated and laid down in mutual agreements. Ambiguous results The sustainable building policies of the past decade show ambiguous results. Major accomplishments have been achieved, sustainable building is institutionalised in government departments, policies, regulations, subsidies, knowledge and research institutes, consultancies, journals, etcetera. The subject has been widened from sustainable construction at the building level to sustainable building at the level of the built environment, including subjects such as the location of (new) settlements, the urban structure, infrastructures for energy, water, waste and transport and traffic and the urban green structure. In the existing housing stock social issues, such as quality of life, segregation and employment, have also become part of the sustainable building concept. Then there is the building practice, which does not seem to show much concern for sustainable development. More than half a million dwellings are under construction in the Netherlands (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment 1998), only a few will exceed the legally required sustainability measures, which are minimum standards. Renovation and restructuring existing stock, especially the suburbs built from the 1950 s to the 1970 s, is the next challenge faced by Dutch governments (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment 1997). Sustainability is an even more complex issue here, due to the amount of participants, especially the occupants of the dwellings, and the many interests involved, sustainability has to compete with many other interests. The ambiguity of these results indicates that there are some structures or mechanisms at work in building practices which cause sustainable building policies to be unsuccessful. Institutional barrieres Four important institutional barriers can be identified: costs, judicial barriers, tradition, and image (Huizing and Van Dongen 1995, Pries 1995, Bossink 1998, Van Hal and Silvester 1998, Van Lohuizen 1998, etc.). Costs are an issue for all parties involved in transformation processes in the built environment. Sustainable building in the Netherlands is about 10% more expensive than building in the traditional way (Bossink 1998). The financial benefits of sustainable 3

4 building, for example due to a reduction in energy use, are uncertain. Moreover, financial costs and benefits are not equally distributed among actors in time and place. Important judicial barriers can be found in building regulation and liability risks. Regulation acts as a barrier due to its rigidity. Building regulations in the Netherlands are formulated in terms of performance demands. It takes many years before a consensus on a performance demand is achieved among concerned parties. Once a performance demand is integrated into formal regulations, it is a very difficult, time consuming process to change it. With the continuing developments in the concept of sustainable building, performance demands become quickly outdated. Liability is another barrier for introducing new performance demands. It is difficult to predict how new materials will perform during the lifetime of buildings. Certification of new techniques or technologies takes a long time. In many cases no methods for determining the (environmental) performance of products exist, or there is a lack of consensus amongst experts on which method to use (Brandon 1998). Tradition is another barrier. The construction sector is known to be a rather conservative sector. Its structure will undoubtedly contribute to this conservatism. Both in Europe, and in the Netherlands the construction sector consists of 98% small and medium sized enterprises that invest only 0.1% in research, technology and development, as opposed to an average of 2% in other industries (Pries 1995, Patermann 1998). Furthermore, the construction sector and the other sectors involved in the building process, such as the energy, water and planning sectors, are not used collaborating with each other. The fourth barrier concerns the image of sustainable building. The majority of actors involved in transformation processes in the built environment consider sustainable building to be an ideological issue, reserved for believers. Enterprises do not want to be associated with radical ecologists. Furthermore, sustainable building is a wicked concept. As long as it can not provide the actors involved with a clear image of what should be done and how it should be done, actors are not eager to try the opportunities offered by this concept. Conclusions The sustainable building concept has shown many developments in a relatively short period of time, however, these developments have taken place mostly at the abstract level of policy makers and research scientists, and less at the level of the practitioners. This leaves us with a sophisticated strategic concept of sustainable building. The translation of this concept into operational practices proves to be difficult. Four major institutional barriers to the implementation of sustainable building have been identified in this article. These barriers call for further research: what causes these barriers, how do they interfere, and how can they be overcome? The answers to these questions will be used to provide the basis for an institutional design to improve sustainability performance of the built environment. References 1. Bossink, B. (1998) Duurzaam Bouwen in Interactie (Sustainable Building in Interaction), 2. Brandon, P.S. (1998) Sustainability in Management and Organisation: thekey Issues? Proceedings of the CIB World Congress 1998, Construction and the Environment in Gävle, Sweden, pp Hajer, M.A. (1992) The politics of environmental performance review, Leiden University, working paper Hajer, M.A. (1995) The politics of environmental discourse, Clarendon Press, Oxford 4

5 5. Huizing, A., J.E.F. van Dongen (1995) Introductie van milieuvriendelijke bouwmaterialen: inventarisatie van knelpunten in de praktijk (Introduction of environmental friendly construction materials: inventory of barriers), TNO-report, Leiden 6. Lohuizen, M. van (1998) Convenant Duurzaam Ontwikkelen, Bouwen en Beheren in de Regio Rotterdam, Evaluatie van de toepassing van de Convenantslijst Nieuwbouw (Covenant Sustainable Development, Building and Management in the Rotterdam Region: Evaluation of the use of the Sustainable Building Checklist), Report by the Municipality of Rotterdam. 7. Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (1989) National Environmental Policy Plan, The Hague. 8. Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (1998) Vinex 1998, The Hague. 9. Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (1997) Report on Urban Renewal, The Hague. 10. Mol, A.P.J. (1995) The Refinement of Production, Ecological Modernization Theory and the Chemical Industry, Van Arkel, Utrecht. 11. Nelissen, N.J.M. (1998) Environmental Policy Instrumentation in the Netherlands: Comments on Three Decades of Development. Greener Management International, 22, July Patermann, C. (Director DG XII, European Commission) (1998) Speech, CIB World Congress 1998, Construction and the Environment, Gävle, Sweden. 13. Pries, F. (1995), Innovation in the Construction Industry, Eburon, Delft. 14. Van Hal, A., S. Silvester (eds.) (1998) Kansen op Duurzame Stedenbouw, Verkenning van Innovatieve Stedenbouwkundige Plannen (Chances for Sustainable Urban Planning), Aeneas, Best. 15. Weale, A. (1992) The New Politics of Pollution, Manchester University Press. 16. WCED (The Brundtland Report) (1987) Our Common Future, Oxford University Press. 5