Fatima Ghani
Symbiosis Institute of Design
Pune, India
Fatima Ghani completed her Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from one of the prestigious Central Universities of India. She has seven years of experience including six years of teaching architecture and design, both at the undergraduate and graduate level in India and abroad where she has guided over 30 undergraduate thesis projects. Fatima Ghani is a registered architect with the Council of Architecture, India. She has attended and participated in various conferences, seminars, workshops, and lectures related to teaching skills, architecture, and design. She is presently working as an Assistant Professor with the Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune, India.
Design Planning and Sustainability
Community Participation
Motivation
Design Planning and Sustainability-Community Participation aims to explore sustainable aspects of building design and planning once the construction is complete and the building is occupied.
Green buildings are designed, constructed, rated, and inhabited but what falls short is active community participation in 'green' issues on a day to day basis.
Approach
The present Indian urban housing scenario is predominantly 'Housing Societies' - clusters of residential apartments/flats/bungalows/towers etc. How to make the developers, buyers, and residents initiate and participate in green measures and eco-housing is what this paper deals with. The public is aware about the depletion of resources, green measures, eco-housing and other aspects through various print and digital media but until and unless the benefits of such applications are shown to them in profits/incentives, they will not become active participant of the system.
Conclusion
Community participation and awareness is equally important for a successful development in terms of design, planning, and sustainability. If for example the developer gives certain benefits/incentives to the residents to opt for various green measures or use renewable energy resources appropriately, the community will show increased commitment and responsibility for smooth and efficient management of ressources. The final deliverable will be a web site, modeling a housing community which runs on a virtual credit system.
Extensions
The presented deliverable is just one of many possible outcomes of the proposed system redesign. The study contains a total of five different proposals. Further development/extensions could be in the form of putting the proposed model into practice - a trial implementation that could provide valuable feedback for further iterations.