Author(s)

I. Ibrahim

Abstract

The interest of this paper is to focus on the social community and its built environment as an important part of creating ecological design, satisfying the community’s social culture needs and achieving eco-architecture. The social impact assessment (SIA) is an important indicator in the age of information, communication technologies and globalization that affects the future of architecture. The social environment is different to the natural environment because it reacts in anticipation of change, but can adapt in reasoned ways to changing circumstances if this is part of the planning process, and there is the opportunity to participate in designing our future. This paper addresses itself to that modified challenge to achieve eco architecture. Firstly it attempts to define and clarify the SIA as a framework for the comprehensive understanding of environmental experience, regarding its variables and how it could be different depending on social cultures. Secondly it applies this idea to architectural projects that have won prizes at the AGKA awards for sustainable projects in developing countries, adopting the concept of our need to preserve the balance of nature. We consider Masdar, the zero carbon city in the UAE, in our case study with attention being given to the important relationship between physical design and social behaviour regarding eco-architecture. Keywords: social impact, environmental, sustainable, architecture. 1 Introduction Eco-architecture is sustainable architecture that involves a combination of values: aesthetic, environmental, social, political, and moral. It is about using one’s imagination and technical knowledge to engage in the central aspect of the practice, designing and building in harmony with our environment. The smart architect thinks rationally about a combination of issues, including sustainability, durability, longevity, appropriate materials, and sense of place [1]. The challenge

Keywords

social impact, environmental, sustainable, architecture