Editorial for Shaping Qatar's Sustainable Built Environment Special Issue #1

Abstract

In this first Shaping Qatar’s Sustainable Built Environment Special Issue, we have selected three papers that were presented at the inaugural Qatar Green Building Conference 2015. The four key themes of the conference were: 1) Passivhaus in the MENA region; 2) Retrofitting Doha; 3) Measuring the Carbon Footprint and Qatar’s National Vision; and 4) Future Sustainable Cities. Maria Mühlbauer in her paper entitled “Smart building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) for Qatar,” presented under the theme Passivhaus in the MENA region, proposes the application of smart buildingintegrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems to allow private residents to participate in the production of renewable energy. She describes the provision of adapted PV systems suitable for the Middle East’s climatic conditions and Arabic architecture, and gives advice on dealing with both the challenging climatic conditions and the economics of the relatively low electricity price. She further describes how, by visualizing all energy flows in the buildings connected to a smart BIPV system, residents can be made aware of their energy demands and given the opportunity to replace conventionally produced energy with self-produced renewable energy. Dena Qaddumi and Ameena Ahmadi in their paper entitled “Scaling down planning in Doha towards the neighborhood and its public realm,” presented under the theme Future Sustainable Cities, discuss the need for attention to the design and maintenance of cohesive and shared spaces between buildings in existing neighborhoods. They explore the question of how the built environment can preserve tradition and identity with a focus on the public realm in neighborhoods. They outline two dominant approaches to planning in Doha: rational comprehensive planning and entrepreneurial management planning. Using these approaches as a framework, they review the planning trends of the last two decades in Doha. Sarah Clarke et al. in their paper entitled “Towards a more sustainable waste management in Qatar: Retrofitting mindsets and changing behaviours,” presented under the theme Retrofitting Doha, provide a thorough discussion of the current state of waste management in Qatar, while exploring the importance of technical versus behavioural solutions in improving waste management systems. They argue that technological solutions and retrofits alone will not solve waste management problems faced by Qatar unless there is an associated change in mindsets and behaviours at all levels and in all communities. Drawing on examples from individual, organisational and community-driven initiatives in solid waste management in Qatar and a survey of attitudes towards waste, they point to a need for a “retrofit” of mindsets and behavioural change to achieve a transformation in solid waste management. Collectively, these papers bring together several strands of the conference while providing important insights into the problems of planning and the built environment that will move Qatar further towards its goals of sustainable development and the social and environmental pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030.