Integrated Residential Neighbourhoods as an approach

toward Sustainable Development Sara Abd El Baki Mahmoud

1, Ahmed Atef Faggal

2, Mohamed A. Salheen

3

1 Teaching Assistant at Urban Planning & Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

2 Assistant professor at Architectural Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

3 Assistant Professor at Urban Planning & Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University

Abstract: Societies faced serious environmental problems locally, regionally, nationally and

globally, this is due to the wasteful consumption of the world’s resources. All of that is already

having an impact on human health, on the economy and will affect the quality of life today

and for generations to come. Cities are the focal points and drivers of societal development in

all countries. They are responsible for a lot of significant environmental challenges, as they are

the largest consumers of natural resources and the biggest sources of pollution and greenhouse

gas emissions on the planet. Thus, there is a need for a big shift in designing our cities to

overcome all of these problems. Starting with the neighborhood design, which they are the

beginning of any changes in the cities. The actions and decisions taken on this level are in

need of integration with many variables such as design principles, technological solutions,

landscaping, transportation and infrastructure.

On the other hand, the rapid urbanization in Egypt is reflected in the increases in the

percentage of the total population which is not expected to slow down. To meet these demand

for housing, hundreds of integrated residential projects are being constructed all over Cairo‘s

desert through horizontal expansion to accommodate the increasing population by providing

new healthy cities for the new generation. But actually, with this expansion in designing new

integrated residential neighbourhoods, no regard was given towards the environmental impact.

Hence, the paper discusses the issue of planning future sustainable neighbourhood to reach the

sustainable development. It also evaluates the design principles that turn our integrated

residential neighbourhood to become self-sustain to reach the sustainable life for every

Egyptian citizen. Those principles are then used to evaluate a selected case study, which is one

of the best integrated residential projects in Cairo called AL Rehab. The results showed that

the selected case study do not fulfil most of the sustainable design principles from the

environmental side although it is socially and economically succeeded. This emphasizes the

necessity to develop design principles and update current urban planning regulations to

optimize sustainable urban configurations in the urban environment.

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Integrated Residential Neighbourhoods, Sustainable

Neighbourhood

1. Introduction

According to the increase of the urban population all over the world which is expected

to reach 70% of the total population by 2050 (Shen, L. & Ochoa, J. & Shah, M. &

Zhang X., 2010). This rapid urbanization is responsible for leasing of valuable

ecosystems and lands for satisfying the urban needs. Moreover, this World’s

population will live in cities, which they are responsible for the wasteful consumption

of water, energy and other resources, with lack of appropriate infrastructure and

technology (Price, C. & Tsouros, A., 1996). So, if the current and future urban areas

continue with the same resource consumption practices without regarding the future

needs, serious environmental, social and economic problems are expected. Thus, the

challenge is to improve these problems of the existing cities, and makes the new cities

and the new integrated residential neighbourhoods more self -sufficient, and enjoyable

places to live. This means that, building new communities that are physically and

socially sustainable becomes a major challenge to resolve the nation’s housing crisis

and avoid repeating past mistakes. Hence, the governments should provide enough

sustainable homes to meet this growing demand, as good housing can improve our

social, environmental and economic well-being. Also they help in the creation of better

communities that can affect our health, our opportunities for happiness and can attract

investment. This means that the strategic housing decisions that the governments will

adopt on the next few years are critical to the life of the next generation (Department

for Communities and Local Government, 2007).

Hence, achieving sustainability in contemporary time will require a major paradigm

shift, essentially reversing traditional development, and changing our philosophies and

behaviors. Simultaneously, many cities around the world has developed their

sustainable urban development plans for leading their urbanization process towards a

desired status of urban sustainability (Shen, L. & Ochoa, J. & Shah, M. & Zhang X. ,

2010). Those plans apply the suitable design principles to achieve the goals of

sustainability. The focus mainly to improve the quality of life of citizens with the

requirements of modern life by taking into consideration minimizing their impact on

the environment.

1.1. Research Objective

The paper aims to achieve the criteria of designing a sustainable neighborhood in order

to reach a healthy life for everyone in Egypt by decreasing their effect on the

environment and also in line with the country's economy. As the housing sector is

critical to the Egyptian’s future, so the decisions the government will take today to

make a crucial difference to the lives of generations to come. Thus, evaluating the local

experience of establishing new integrated residential neighbourhoods is highly needed

to identify the design scenarios which clarify the future vision for the government in

order to achieve sustainable urban development.

1.2. Literature Review

To outline the principles of the sustainable neighbourhood, some of the literature has

been explored concerned with how to achieve the sustainability on the urban

neighbourhood level with the attempt to draw out some lessons. The literature review

has been investigated works done by researchers such as the findings reached by

(Lindström P.& Lundström M., 2008) in ‘ Sustainability by Sweden perspective on

urban Governance ’, and also the design principles of sustainable neighbourhood done

by (Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. , 2009)) in their studies on ‘Specification of

Indicators and Selection Methodology for a Potential Community Demonstration

Project- Vancouver’. In addition to that, other researcherss’ findings on the theoretical

ground of the sustainable neighbourhood such as (Talen E., Kochinsky J., 2010) in

‘Subsidized Housing in Sustainable Neighbourhoods’, and the contribution of the

sustainability indicators such as (Shen, L. & Ochoa, J. & Shah, M. & Zhang X., 2010)

‘The application of urban sustainability indicators ’. Also, other researchers have been

mentioned within the research that discussed the sustainability aspects of the urban

design for new cities such as (Shalaby,2000) and (Alqadi, 2013) findings on ‘Compact

Urban Form ’ and (Bayoumi M. & Fouad Y. & Roshdy K. , December 2007 )

findings on ‘ Egypt National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) – National Strategy

and Action Plan for Capacity Development’.

1.3. Research Methodology

The purpose of this paper is to identify the design principles that address sustainability

issues with the broader aim of creating a model checklist to enhance sustainability in

the residential built environment. Hence, the research discusses the principles that help

to reach a sustainable neighbourhood development for the future generation. The

research mainly depends on analyzing a case study for “Al Rehab city “ which is one

of the largest and successful communities in our country in order to convert it to be

healthy sustainable neighbourhood. This discussion of the selected case study has been

set against the design principles of the sustainable neighbourhoods.

2. Why Sustainable Urban Development

The concept of the sustainable urban development plans in many cities around the

world has been developed for leading their urbanization process towards a desired

status of urban sustainability. This concept depends on the proper use of resources to

guarantee equity, protection of the natural environment, minimal use of non-renewable

resources, and economic diversity. Also to guarantee community self-reliance,

individual well-being, and satisfaction of basic human needs. According to that urban

sustainability is defined as “the challenge to solve both the problems experienced

within cities and the problems caused by cities”, recognizing that cities themselves

provide many potential solutions (Shen, L. & Ochoa, J. & Shah, M. & Zhang X.,

2010). This urban sustainability depends mainly on two terms, which are the terms

sustainability and sustainable development. Despite of the quite different meaning,

these terms are often erroneously used interchangeably. It is important to understand

the difference between them, and how the two concepts interact.

2.1. Sustainability

Sustainability is a term that can have different and often opposing meanings when

applied to economic, social and environmental situations. Sustainable definition shows

the linkage of three important spheres of life which are: social, economic, and

environmental health of our community, as shown in figure (1) (Meter, K., 1999). It is

a term that means that a person or society lives within the means of what the earth can

provide over a long term, and it can be carried out over and over without negative

effects on the environmental effects or high costs.

Figure (1): The three interlocking circles of sustainability

Source: (Meter, K., 1999)

2.2. Sustainable Development

While sustainable development is a term that can be achieved by the adoption of

policies and programs to solve the global problems. It is the main concern for decision

makers, experts and planners at local, national and global levels. Recognizing that,

there is a well-known definition of sustainable development is taken from the

Bruntland Report which is "Sustainable development is development that meets the

needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations

to meet their own needs"(World Commission on Environment and Development,

1987).

Thus, the sustainable urbanization refers to the well-balanced relationship between the

social, economic and environmental agents in society in order to accomplish

sustainable urban development. Which means that the terms “urban sustainability,

sustainable city and sustainable community” refer to the desirable state, while

“Sustainable urban development” refer to the process towards the desirable state (Shen,

L. & Ochoa, J. & Shah, M. & Zhang X., 2010).

2.3. Neighbourhood

Planning for sustainable urbanization, has started with designing the new integrated

residential neighbourhood which has a key role in promoting the future urban

sustainability and respond to the major trends in the world that affect in cities

especially in the developing world. Thus, researches over the past decades have

confirmed that integrated residential neighbourhood form can have a great impact on

the physical health, accessibility, crime, safety, and social interaction, in which all of

them are important aspects of achieving the quality of life in the neighborhood. So the

housing policy has become increasingly oriented towards ensuring residents to live in

what could be termed ‘‘Sustainable Neighbourhoods ’’ not only low in poverty and low

in crime, but walkable, transit served, and accessible to a wide variety of services and

facilities (Talen E., Kochinsky J., 2010).

2.3.1. Definition of Sustainable Neighbourhood

From here, the definition of sustainable communities is “meet the diverse needs of

existing and future residents, their children and other users, contribute to a high quality

of life and provide opportunity and choice. They achieve this in ways that make

effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment, promote social cohesion

and inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity”. These mean that the

neighbourhood is an ecosystem that it provides the essential local habitat for humans,

and should provide as far as possible for their comfort (Al- Hagla K., 2008).

Improving sustainability at a neighbourhood level contributes to more sustainable

environments at a wider scale. Therefore, given our large urban population, getting

neighbourhoods’ right is important both for the people who live in them and the

resources they consume. This means that neighbourhood sustainability is about how

buildings and the spaces around them work together and the impact they have on the

activities that take place there. As well as the functional aspects of buildings and

spaces, their design, quality and aesthetics all work together to shape the urban built

environment and influence local social and cultural identity. Implicit in these terms is

the understanding that a sustainable neighbourhood is more than the sum of its parts,

i.e., it is not just a string of sustainable houses, or a sustainable transport system, it’s

the combination of these and many other sustainability objectives across a

predetermined scale. Simultaneously, the results in how new communities can be

concluded under the following four themes: (Falk N. & Carley M., 2012).

• Healthier and stronger communities.

• Safer streets and living places.

• A greater choice of homes.

• Environmental features that add value to living in a new neighbourhood.

Simultaneously, to count an integrated residential neighbourhood to be as a sustainable

urban neighbourhood, it should have five basic ingredients as follows (Falk N. &

Carley M., 2012):

• It should have a wide choice of housing and facilities to ensure long-term value and

to create a balanced community over time. A neighbourhood with some common

facilities requires a minimum of between 500 and 1,000 units, with homes catering for

a range of incomes and ages.

• It is well connected to jobs and services by foot and bike as well as by other modes of

transport in order to cut travel time and costs. Creating connectivity (so that people do

not have to depend on their cars and can be economically active) requires a location on

a transport corridor or close to a town or city centre.

• It should have places of different character that appeal to different markets. Creating

character or a sense of place requires a minimum net density of 30 units to the hectare,

as in the garden cities and some of the new towns. Higher densities can support better

infrastructure but call for high-quality design.

• It is designed to save resources and ensure that neighborhoods are well looked after,

and do not ‘cost the earth’. Climate-proofing a development will include provision of

green infrastructure to promote biodiversity and reduce environmental impact, as well

as measures to save energy.

• It benefits from hands-on management and long-term stewardship by responsible

local organizations, such as housing associations, development trusts or parish

councils, both during development and after residents have moved in.

2.3.2. Sustainable Neighbourhood’s Themes

A sustainable neighbourhood is a form of a traditional neighbourhood, which meets the

same needs for housing, work places, and shopping, civic functions but in formats that

are compact, complete and connected, and ultimately more sustainable and satisfying

(Bodenschatz H. & Janke T., 2008). Hence, there are highly interdependent elements of

any sustainable urban design. Each corresponds to one of those basic systems that

support all the urban functions. These are: natural systems, land use systems, mobility,

energy systems, water management, material resources, waste management, and

affordable housing (McGeough U. & et al., 2004). According to that, we condensed the

sustainability measures of neighbourhood form into ten areas. All of those areas help the

urban form to reach a variety of goals related to sustainable urban places, which depend

mainly on the places that should be diverse, health-promoting, socially active, well

connected, safe, accessible, pedestrian-based, and not car-dependent, that in order to

improve the ability of place to sustain itself in the long term (Talen E., Kochinsky J.,

(2010). Simultaneously, to implement the urban sustainability certain policies should be

applied. Besides, good monitoring system should be used to evaluate their impact. This

means that, each government should choose its own indicators or its own sustainability

assessment tools to monitor and support their policies. The following part discusses the

design principle of each one of these systems and their interrelationships and provides a

range of tactical measures that can be taken to maximize their individual contributions

toward urban sustainability. Those ten themes are proposed below in table (1) to

categorize sustainability that focus on urban form (Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. ,

2009).

Table (1): Sustainable neighbourhood themes (Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. , 2009)

Them Definition

1. Land Sustainable neighbourhoods use land efficiently and dynamically to accommodate the

diverse places of dwelling, work, education and play vital to sustaining human

populations. Thus, that refers to the allocation and spatial arrangement of land and land

uses.

2. Mobility Refers to the degree to which people have access to jobs, services and activities.

Sustainable neighbourhoods should provide mode and route options for residents to move

easily between dwellings and places of work, learning, shopping and with less impact on

the environment.

3. Energy Refers to the demand, supply and distribution of energy to power machines, buildings

and vehicles. To reach more sustainable neighbourhoods, energy demand should be

reduced and increase opportunities to meet the demand with renewable energy and low

emission sources as well as efficient distribution systems should be used such as

community or district energy systems.

4. Housing Sustainable neighbourhoods should include an appropriate mix of housing types, sizes,

and density, resulting in diverse, safe and socially active places to live. This refers to the

affordability and diversity of the housing stock critical to a socially and economically

diverse society.

5. Natural Habitat Refers to the network of places, ecosystems that support the natural development of plant

and animal populations. Removing habitat has negative impacts on the balance of the

natural systems. So that, sustainable neighbourhoods protect, enhance or restore habitat

of sufficient quality, and quantity to support locally significant plant and animal species.

6.Water: It refers to the hydrologic cycle, including precipitation (rain, snow, hail), surface water

and ground water. To achieve more sustainable neighbourhoods carefully manage

consumption of potable water and treatment of wastewater to protect and restore the

natural hydrology cycle, including aquatic ecosystems.

7. Economy Refers to the interplay of jobs and commerce that contribute to the economic well-being

of a neighbourhood. More sustainable neighbourhoods build a healthy local economy on

a diversity of business and employment options adaptable to change.

8. Food Refers to access to secure, local food production. So it is important to that the

neighbourhood should support local food production, also should reduce dependence on

imported food and should reduce the amount of transportation energy used to distribute

food.

9. Waste It refers to using the organic waste in Pyrolysis process and converts it to energy.

Sustainable neighbourhoods can meet the annual energy demand by bio-gas energy

produced from both dry urban and agricultural waste in a compact Pyrolysis carbon

harvester.

10. Materials Sustainable neighbourhoods should promote the reuse and recycling of buildings and

materials to reduce demand and carefully consider the sources of materials and their life-

cycles. Thus, that refers to the inputs martials or the used materials that have a big effect

on the built environment in a neighbourhood.

3. Research Study Area

During the last decades, the population of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

region increased rapidly (Winckler O., 2005), which have a negative impact on the

wasteful consumption of water, energy and other resources and shortage of available

housing (Goell E. & El-Lahham N. & Hussen W. , 2009). This leads the government

to establish new cities to accommodate this population growth, they mainly want to

adapt to the high demand for housing occurring in Cairo (Shalaby, 2000). The main

target is to create new integrated residential neighbourhoods with new urban

environments that are more livable, organized and attractive. Those new urban

environments were planned in order to attract part of the overpopulation in existing

cities, and protect agricultural land (Goell E. & El-Lahham N. & Hussen W. , 2009).

But in fact, the government and the private sectors just take the direction to create the

new integrated residential neighbourhoods just for achieving business and financial

goal. Those neighbourhoods have become a place for doing business with millions of

vacuum housing rather than a place where communities live. As already many citizens

in the Egyptian communities were living under these kind of unsustainable conditions

(Goell E. & El-Lahham N. & Hussen W., 2009). Simultaneously, those communities

need to be developed according to more sustainable design principles. Thus, this part

introduces an analysis of the Egyptian experience in constructing new integrated

residential neighborhoods in the desert. The research evaluates a selected case study

which is Al Rehab city, in order to analyze the evolution of the experience aiming to

identify the positive and negative aspects and extract important outcomes.

3.1.1. The Goals Analysis

The choice was based on it being a role model of success of the social and economic

aspect, but there is a little debate is it succeed from the environmental aspect or not.

Thus the paper monitors the achievement of the environmental principles of a

sustainable neighbourhood through the design of Al Rehab, in order to be duplicated as

a model in many of the future urban communities. The analysis aims to outline a

criteria system for Egyptian Sustainable Neighbourhoods, in which the neighbourhood

could become fully sustainable with a minimum 50% reduction in the environmental

impact. The ability to achieve this goal depends on the principles of sustainable

neighbourhood, which are complex and contradict to each other.

3.1.2. Existing Conditions

Al Rehab city is a fully-fledged community. It is the first city built by the private sector

in Egypt having comprehensive services to cater for all needs of it’s residents. It is set

in an area of 10 million m2 in New Cairo to accommodate 200,000 inhabitants. It is

located ten minutes away from Heliopolis and Nasr City, on the Cairo Suez road, and

20 minutes from downtown Cairo, its site is well connected with the surrounding city

level, as shown in figure (2) (Talaat Moustafa Group, 2013).

Figure (2): Location of Al Rehab City

Source: (Talaat Moustafa Group, 2013)

Al Rehab is considering being one of the first housing compounds in New Cairo. It is a

part of New Cairo which contains residential compounds, houses, villas, and world

class five star Hotels and golf courses. The construction of “Al Rehab” was scheduled

in six phases, and was later extended to become ten phases upon it’s completion, each

built on an area of 240 feddans, show figure (3). So It is supposed to offer home to

about 120 000 inhabitants. Other 80 000 inhabitants are expected to find a place to live

in the districts 7-10. All the services needed are provided throughout the city, including

a variety of facilities such as schools, banks, markets and malls (Yousry, A., 2009).

Figure (3): Phases of Al Rehab north of New Cairo City

Source: (Yousry, A., 2009)

3.1.3. Observation on Al Rehab Case study

The analysis is based on observation in order to reach a checklist to show the relation

of designing of AL Rehab city against the design principles of the sustainable

neighbourhoods. The analysis aims to outline a criteria system for Egyptian

Sustainable Neighbourhoods to minimize it’s environmental impact.

I. Land

A sustainable district ideally integrates housing areas with working spaces

(employment on site), leisure and cultural facilities and services, commercial centres

and services, educational and sports amenities, child care centres and retirement homes

etc. For the case study, it is provided with a variety of services and facilities such as

daily markets, banks, restaurant, schools, parks and recreation areas in proximity of

residential buildings. It has always been distinguished than other gated communities by

its services, running from day one of operation. Figure (4) shows the diversity of land

uses and different facilities within the area, Those facilities and services add to the

attractiveness of the area and reduce the energy needed for commuting to meet the

basic and daily services. This means that this theme is positive and is probably exist in

the neighbourhood design.

Figure (4): Al Rehab land use plan

Source: (Talaat Moustafa Group, 2013)

II. Mobility

Al Rehab is provided by the internal public transportation network. This network

consists from an internal shuttle bus system in addition to buses that transport the

visitors and employment from outside central areas in Nasr City

and Heliopolis districts (Yousry, A., 2009).There are only three lines of public buses to

serve the whole district. There are not enough as they do not cover the whole area of Al

Rehab, which lead to make the private cars is the dominant movement choice.

According to that, it is preferred to increase the bus stations in the neighbourhood with

a maximum distance 250 m from any public transportation. This approximately means

that each neighbourhood should have two bus stations to cover the required walking

distance, and this is essential to be improved by the time in order to increase the

independence of the resident on the public transportation.

Figure (5): Hierarchy of roads within Al Rehab

Source: (Talaat Moustafa Group, 2013, adapted by the author)

Also the internal circulation network of the neighbourhoods gave the priority to private

cars by designing and constructing vehicles’ roads that extend to reach every single

plot and every single building. That ostensibly result in a high percentage of roads,

which have a negative impact on the environment. Those roads were designed with

pedestrian paths allocated along the two sides of the roads. But in fact, the streets do

not have enough shading instruments to encourage the residents to walk or even use the

bicycles, they are dominated mostly by car lanes.

III. Energy

Although energy is one of the most fundamental drivers of social and economic

development in developing countries like Egypt, it does not take the first priority in the

designing of any community. The energy sector and carbon mitigation have to be at the

centre of any sustainable development strategy. Also it has to be at the beginning in

any sustainable neighbourhood plan. In fact, the use of energy, the types of energy used

and the lack of access to sufficient energy have far reaching implications for a city’s

economic development, its environmental health and its social development.

Neighbourhoods which implement sustainable energy and climate action plans to

reduce their vulnerability to energy scarcity and to energy price rises, they have less

traffic congestion and lower energy input costs, they have cleaner air and their low-

carbon economies can afford them a competitive economic edge globally. There is

potential to greatly improve energy efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions in many

upper-middle income developing countries which have a substantial industrial base

(UN-HABITAT and UNEP, 2009).

According to the lack of the passive techniques in Al Rehab design, which negatively

affect the energy consumption in the neighbourhood. There are several steps should be

followed to achieve the energy efficiency in Al Rehab. The first step should be through

applying passive design strategies which will reduce primary energy consumption like:

adding some external shading devices to decrease the impact of the solar radiation, also

improving some elements from the building envelope like windows and the insulation,

which can help in decreeing some of the heat lose inside the buildings. After that, the

second step can be done by optimizing the distribution systems, which will allow a

further saving. Also optimize the building performance by using the smart building

management techniques. Finally, renewable energy sources and actively renewable

strategies that will reduce the primary energy demand (Kellett R. & Fryer S. & Budke

I. , 2009). This is the most expensive, while offering the lowest relative environment-

impact returns. That is why designers should first concentrate on applying passive

design strategies, thereby reducing a large amount of energy demand with little cost,

and only subsequently looked at what active controls could be implemented (UN-

HABITAT and UNEP , 2009). Actually, increasing the initial costs of applying

renewable energy technologies and applying smart technologies will represent a

financial barrier and a technical constraint of turning exiting community like Al Rehab

to increase it is energy efficient, but it can be applied in the future.

IV. Housing

Al Rehab district mainly contains a variety of housing units, it includes villas and

apartment buildings. The development of Al Rehab aimed to accommodate middle

income and high-middle income groups. It offers 52 different prototypes for five story

walk-up building apartments in the development phases. All apartment building areas

are designed in groups, where clusters of building enclose green open spaces,

interconnected together by a pedestrian network that is totally separated from the

vehicles roads and parking lots. For the villas, there are 26 Villa prototypes which

range from 170 square meters including attached, semi-attached and detached villas to

520 square meters in the luxurious ones, all of them with private gardens taking up at

least 60% of the total plot area (Talaat Moustafa Group, 2013). This means that, this

factor is positive and probably exists in Al Rehab neighbourhood.

V. Natural Habitat

This refers to the network of places, ecosystems that support the natural development

of plant and animal populations (Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. ,2009). This may be

appearing in the green infrastructure network, such as green streets, landscaping

services for both public open spaces and private gardens and adequate vegetation

cover, serves to reduce the heat island effect and adds productive land areas that are

lost by developments. This means that, this factor has intermediate affect in Al Rehab

neighbourhood design.

VI. Economy

This refers to the interplay of jobs and commerce that contribute to the economic well-

being of the neighbourhood (Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. , 2009). That appeared in

Al Rehab in the Varity of the facilities which include a number of

schools, medical centre and clinics, shopping malls, food court, pharmacies, banks

and office facilities, and workshop area for car maintenance services and specialty

restaurants, recreational services such as the sports club and pharmacies, banks and

office facilities, and workshop area for car maintenance services. All of those

services build a healthy local economy on a diversity of business and employment

options adaptable to change and support the neighbourhood. This means that, this

factor is positive and probably exists in Al Rehab neighbourhood (Talaat Moustafa

Group, 2013).

VII. Food

The on-site food production using domestic conservatories, raised beds, communal

herb gardens, allotments and communal orchards, will guarantee that the biodiversity

of the current site is actually increasing (Kellett R. & Fryer S. & Budke I., 2009). Thus,

this factor does not exist in the neighbourhood. In order to provide on-site food

production in Al Rehab the green corridors through the housing clusters can be used, in

order to form small urban farms which are easily accessible and maximizing the

convenience of growing fresh vegetables and fruit on site from the edible public

landscape planting, also the resident can involve in the greening roof process.

VIII. Water

The sustainable neighbourhood should include a water cycle management plan:

treatment of waste water, reduction of water consumption (equipped with water saving

devices), and implementation of efficient rainwater infiltration systems (Kellett R.&

Fryer S. & Budke I. , 2009). This system is not available in Al Rehab district, so there

is a need to establish this system. Starting with using the water-efficient fixtures which

can be used inside the buildings to reduce water demand, then the waste water could be

reused to flush toilets and irrigate gardens using the gray water system in order to

produce clean or reusable water in the building. According to that, the water system in

Al Rehab needs to be improved in the long run, in order to decrease the rate of

consumption of the water.

IX. Waste

There is a system for garbage collection in Al Rehab district (Yousry, A., 2009), but

actually the neighbourhood should include an integrated waste management plan

consisting of separate waste collection system, incentives for waste reduction and

recycling and minimized building waste. There are different solutions and techniques

can be used like: using the organic waste as fertilizers for the gardens and the

landscaping. Besides the recycling plant should be established near to your community

or inside, so the garbage and solid waste can arrive easily and dally at the plant.

According to that, the waste system in Al Rehab needs to be improved in the long run,

in order to become an integrated waste management plan.

X. Materials

Addressing the environmental impact requires a whole-life approach, involving for any

one material it’s sourcing from nature, its processing, transport, in-use by-products,

recycling and reuse ability, and avoiding its final waste disposal. So whenever possible,

a sustainable neighbourhood is built from natural, recycled or reclaimed materials. This

means that the usage of recycling materials should be encouraged as much as can

(Kellett R.& Fryer S. & Budke I. , 2009). At Al Rehab using recycled materials is not

exit, so the first step should be by using separating waste bins that will make the

separation system of the garbage easy, after that establish a recycling plant near the

community to make the process of the recycling easy and quickly, no need to transport

for a long distance.

3.1.4. The Design Principles

Finally, according to the previous observation the design of the Al Rehab

neighbourhood does not fulfil most of the design principles according to the

environmental aspect of the sustainable neighbourhood, although it considers being one

of the most successful communities of the social and economic aspect. It offers the

model of the lively and livable city. From the resident point of view, it enables them to

feel better about their social and economic status more than the traditional

housing area. It also makes them feel safe and secure, as it protects their children,

keeping out crime, and controlling the quality of services, and prestigious suburban

lifestyle (Yousry A., 2009). Perhaps one of the most important lessons learned from Al

Rehab experience so far is that it is hardly to be considered as a prototype of the

Egyptian communities. Despite being one of the most successful communities of the

social and the economic aspect, it does not consider the best community that uses the

proper design principles to decrease its impacts on the environment. Thus, it was found

from the following checklist that the neighbourhood is suffering from a number of

problems. The following table shows the checklist which explains that the design of the

Al Rehab neighbourhood does not fulfil most of the design principles extracted in the

literature review.

This Checklist will indicate how far the project used sustainable principles:

Positive and is probably exist

Intermediate affecting

o Essential to be improved

Them Items Evaluation

1. Land

2. Mobility o

3. Energy

4. Housing

5.Natural Habitat

6. Economy

7. Food

8.Water

9. Waste

10. Materials

4. Conclusion

As a result it was proved that the sustainable neighbourhood future is not just an

aspiration. Around the world it is becoming reality as inhabitants, business sectors and

government organizations change their lifestyle to meet the challenges of resource

depletion. In the master plan of sustainable neighbourhood will need to offer integrated

solutions in multiple challenges including design and flexibility to integrate

sustainability techniques. Such techniques should be changed into schemes that study

the project as a whole, phase by phase starting from the design and planning phase,

Is not exist

Negative affecting

Need to improve by the time run

construction, implementation and ending from the final phase operation and

management. So this new approach of sustainable communities has become the main

approaches to work towards a more sustainable and an environmental development in

the last few decades. It is the time for Egypt to change the traditional used methods as

the traditional approaches were just schemes with no regard to future changes, and try

to solve all the problems that face the implementation with all means and methods.

New integrated residential neighbourhoods should be attractive places with good

quality and green public space that help create healthy communities. Those residential

neighbourhoods must provide good local infrastructure, transport, water and waste

management. Such provision should be central to our future plans. New growth points

should be put into consideration to improve parks, opens spaces, and greener homes.

Which means that it is not about building more homes, it is about better homes, built to

high standards, both in terms of design and environmental impact and homes that are

part of mixed communities with good local facilities. The new integrated residential

neighbourhoods need to be much more sustainable for the future, as it needs to be part

of the solution to environmental problems not part of the problem. According to that a

revolution in the way of building and designing homes and the neighbourhoods should

be done. It means new skills, supply chains, partnerships and business models,

including for builders and energy suppliers and other stakeholders.

Thus, the good design is fundamental to building according to higher environmental

standards and will play a vital role in getting the most out of new technologies and

approaches, as well as promoting more sustainable patterns of behavior. In addition to

that, the building regulations should be strengthened to set the standards which help to

achieve new sustainable neighbourhoods. Also the architects should integrate

principles of sustainability in designing houses with the surrounding environment in

terms of using climate conditions of the site to achieve the human comfort. That can be

achieved through a proper design for the house (good windows, adequate insulation,

daylighting principles, and efficient heating and cooling equipment) taking into

consideration all the environmental passive design strategies while designing the

house.

5. References

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Spaces,. Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research.

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13. UN-HABITAT and UNEP, (2009).Sustainable Urban Energy Planning- A

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Learned from the Development Experience of Al Rehab Gated Community.

Website References

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