ادراک متخصصان ساختمان در توسعه پایدار: یک مطالعه مقایسه ای بین هنگ کنگ و شنیانگ

It is logical to believe that the building professionals (architect, structural engineers, building services engineers, etc.) are the relevant persons that may influence the decision-making process on a real estate development process. Accordingly, the attitudes and perception of building professionals should have a significant influence on sustainable development. This article describes a survey concerning the perceptions of different building professionals, which include architects, construction engineers and building services engineers, on the environment, resource sustainability, and green consumerism in two major cities in China: Hong Kong and Shenyang. It is recognized that energy is central to sustainable development and in 2006/2007, the United Nation Commission on Sustainable Development will focus on energy issue. The discussion in this article will concentrate on the building professionals’ perception on energy related issues. Nevertheless, the findings in respect of their awareness of the environment, resources sustainability and other related issues are also summarized. At global level, apart from the need to preserve historical buildings, the professionals in Shenyang feel that ‘exhaustion of natural resources’ is of major concern and energy preservation is significant. However, the Hong Kong professionals do not consider energy resource sustainability is of urgency.

It seems that there are numerous reports of climate change, of rising sea levels, of the depletion of our natural resources and the contamination of our land and water. Sustainable development is a major national policy in many countries in the recent years. The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development has defined that sustainable development is the development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (the Bruntland definition [1]). This indicates that development needs to consider the long-term carrying capacity of the Earth, the equitability between people and the relationships between the economic, the environmental and social [2]. In other words, the decision to develop a land and to design buildings should account for sustainability. Numerous studies, in particular surveys for the public and leaders’ opinion on sustainability have been carried out by different organizations in the recent decade [3], [4], [5] and [6]. Environics International conducted an on-line survey [6] of business executives to explore the adoption of sustainable development in their companies. In general, business leaders would have positive attitude on sustainable development. We understand that a building professional plays a major role in the decision-making process for the design and development of buildings. Accordingly, the attitudes and perception of building professionals will have a significant effect in course of sustainable development. Energy was indeed one of the most intensely debated issues at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in September 2002 [7] and [8]. It was agreed that energy should be the main context of sustainable development. The discussion in this article will concentrate on the building professionals’ perception on energy related issues as the provision of a comfort environment are recognized to be responsible for a significant portion of energy consumption in our daily life. This article describes a study concerning the perceptions of building professionals on the environment, resource sustainability, and green consumerism. Building professionals comprising architects, construction engineers, building services engineers and surveyors in two cities: Hong Kong and Shenyang are invited for a structured survey in 2004. The findings in respect of the building professionals’ awareness of the environment, resources sustainability and other related issues are also summarized.

We understand that the people's view may affect the society's actions relating to sustainable development. The captioned survey has been initiated to evaluate the perception of the building professionals in Hong Kong and Shenyang on sustainable development. It indicates that air pollution at local level and preservation of the culture (historical structures) are considered as the critical issues for studying sustainable development in both Hong Kong and Shenyang. However, when we compare the perception between the people in Hong Kong and that in Shenyang, some difference, especially at national and global level, can be noted. In order to further checking the localization effect, an additional test between the perceptions of the professionals of Shenyang and Beijing2 has been carried out. The environmental and cultural background of Shenyang and Beijing are similar. The results have shown (Table 11 refers) that the perceptions of the professionals between the two cities are concordant. The difference between Shenyang and Hong Kong professionals’ perceptions may be due to the fact that the environmental, cultural and education background of the two cities are not the same.For example, the Hong Kong's professional consider that extreme weather should be a critical problem globally. As Hong Kong is located in a tropical region, the global warming effect and other extreme climate situations may cause adverse weather conditions in the region. However, the Shenyang professionals believe that exhaustion of natural resources/fossil fuel at national level and extinction of energy resources globally may require urgent concern. The discordant of belief between the professionals of the two cities may cause them to have different concern in the building design.