Sustainable Design in Tourism - Essay Example

Sustainable Design in Tourism It is possible to achieve sustainability through correct emphasize in the early stages of design and development to ensure that the mechanism for economic viability fully includes social and environmental consideration. Recent decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in tourism industry, which brought huge economic benefit to host communities. But it also caused many social and environment impact to the environment. The tourism and hospitality industry spends heavily on constructing new buildings and renovating the existing ones. But, “increasing evidence shows that an integrated approach to tourism planning and management is now required to achieve sustainable tourism. It is only recently that there has been a growing recognition of the importance of combining the needs of traditional urban management (transportation, land use planning, marketing, economic development, fire, and safety etc.) with the need to plan for tourism.” (Walter and Noble 2000). Eco-friendly Sustainable design Sustainable design includes structures, which need fewer materials, and resources to construct and maintain are relatively more healthy and comfortable to work and live in. it does not mean a new building style rather it is a revolution in how people think about design, build, and operate buildings. One of the main aims of sustainable design is to reduce the harm caused by poorly designed buildings by combining the best of old building approaches with the new technological advances. Sustainable tourism is “an industry which attempts to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income, employment, and the conservation of local ecosystems. It is responsible tourism which is both ecologically and culturally sensitive.” (Sustainable tourism 1997). Constructions have huge impacts on the environment. In industrialized countries carbon dioxide emissions from the constructions forms the half of total national carbon emissions and construction waste account for 35-40 percent of national annual waste output. The 60’s of the twentieth century witnessed construction of several hundred uncomfortable and uneconomical resorts which required most expensive devices of refrigeration and heating. Though modern construction are much more energy and resource efficient than the building’s in the 60’s, they are still far from sustainable and eco-friendly. It is a fact that many resorts continue to be designed with little regards for improved comfort, climate, or reduction of energy, water, and waste during construction and occupation. Moreover, “Too often in the tourism sector has an investment surge been followed by environmental degradation and social inequity that inevitably led to deteriorating infrastructure and services.” (Model for sustainable resort development). The importance of sustainable design in tourism and hospitality sector Tourism and hospitality sector spends huge amount of money in constructing building which destroy the integrity and beauty of their surroundings. With the expansion of rural, nature and adventure tourism, more and more resorts are being built in fragile and remote environments where it is crucial that impacts to be kept minimum. Moreover, resorts, due to the intensity of use, require regularly refurbishing and repairing, which involve further impacts. It is also observed that the customers are also responsive a good design and they are ready to pay extra to stay in an environmentally sensitive property. The advantages of sustainable design Facilitates environment management Sustainable and eco-friendly designs of buildings are very helpful in preserving environment. Some of the greatest challenges for environment are to find out ways to decrease waste output and resources use in construction, which offer little scope for low and medium cost improvement. But a resort constructed to lower heat loss or gains, maximize day lighting, provide plumbing for the reuse of grey water, use renewable energy and reduce watering needs through thoughtful landscaping, make the implementation of environment management much easier Lower energy use Sustainable design features can lower energy use. Proper repair and install options can lower energy consumption by 30-50 percent in most resorts and this can go up to 80 percent with the implementation of proper sustainable features. Enhance productivity and improve corporate image ‘Green Resorts’ can improve corporate image and enhances employee productivity. Moreover, people prefer airy and comfortable rooms and are ready to pay a premium for ‘green resorts.’ Site selection is one of the most important steps in the sustainable resort design process. The proposed site should be compatible for resort development. Opinion from architects, ecologists, environment specialists, and construction engineers must be obtained before finalizing the site. An overview of geology and hydrology of the site is required to determine whether soils are stable and to find out the rate of erosion. The next step is to examine how valuable and fragile is the topography and to what extent will it be destroyed or disturbed by the proposed development. In the last decade, due to complicated issues caused by poverty, globalization, environmental degradation and global challenges, a new business ethics evolved where institutions are increasingly expected and pressured to go beyond the financial aspect and begin to integrate sustainable business practices through out their operations. They understand that mere ‘responsible’ practices may not be sufficient to avoid the implication and risk of current global trends, some organization have adopted principles which are scientifically relevant for sustainability to outline how their organization will operate in a new economy. (Hawken and Holmberg 1999). The question to be answered is what does strategic sustainable development mean? It starts with taking a whole system view of a situation. Individual with in the biosphere, within society and within organization as a whole ought to see how action combines from a small scale to a large scale and thus comprehend their role in a overall movement towards sustainability. (Hawken and Holmberg 1997) Sustainable or ‘green’ buildings are described as structures, which are sensitive to the environment by reducing resources and energy consumption while creating financial benefit. (Kats 2003). Theses designed projects are eco-friendly, “demonstrating that integrated elements of green development better serve the occupants, the developer, society at large and the environment.” (Browning and Cureton 1998). An eco-friendly sustainable resort should have a renewable energy initiative, which combats high prices of electricity generation. The sustainable resorts develops infrastructure for renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass production. Specific solutions include durable photovoltaic arrays, green energy from the local utility, wind energy in suitable areas and an eco generation power station, which is propelled by municipal waste stream and can provide all resort operations. All the new eco-friendly resorts built as ‘living buildings’. They have almost zero met impacts on the environment. Rainwater is stored for use. Wastewater treatment system can produce water for non-portable use within the resort and native landscaping need little irrigation. All resort vehicles, transport carriers, and busses are run on biofuel, hydrogen technology and fuel cells requiring very little fossil fuel. Organic local’s food can be introduced in the resort and local peasants produce the food required for the resort. In order to ensure all used items are gone back to the re-manufacturing cycle a natural resource will be created. It is seen that water shortage due to weather patterns and reduced amount of snowball considerably impact water management. A water capture and consideration initiative is in place to ensure water resources will not be affected through out the year. New eco-friendly resorts are efficient and require minimal water use to perform basic functions. They are able to capture and store rainwater for future use and the drainage system is designed in such a way as to allow runoff to flow back in to the environment and circuit it. New technologies will be implemented to increase effectiveness in the operations of the resort. All the employees will be given training so that they will realize the importance of a sustainable resort and how can it reduce impacts on environment. An eco-friendly sustainable resort design requires strategy, vision, and learning. According to Peter Senge, leadership is the “capacity of a human community to initiate and sustain significant change. (Basil and Broman 2004). For a real change to take place, leaders must create positive energy and must identify, understand and disperse the barriers to change. Interacting with senior level managers would provide an insight to many assumptions, attitudes, concerns, and perception held by the key people in the organization. This is very helpful in understanding where the company is today and what are the constraints to change. This is also the first step to lead sustained change in an organization. (Sadgrove 1994). Recently resorts experience a significant growth in golf courses, which results consumption of large amount of water and deforestation, soil erosion, flooding, loss of agricultural land and traditional village life style. But environmental management system (EMS) can be used to monitor a resort design. It can also be used to progress on environmental impacts, energy and water conservation, and community impact through training, planning, monitoring, and corrective action. Site selection. Site selection is one of the most important steps in the sustainable resort design process. The proposed site should be compatible for resort development. Opinion from architects, ecologists, environment specialists, and construction engineers must be obtained before finalizing the site. An overview of geology and hydrology of the site is required to determine whether soils are stable and to find out the rate of erosion. While selecting the site a for constructing an eco-friendly sustainable resort, the following questions should be asked: Is the site of religious, cultural, or archeological significance? Are there buildings on the site, which are of religious, cultural or historical importance? Is there any possibility of social conflict if the land is used for resort? Can the existing buildings be preserved and enhanced by the proposed development? Given the cultural and ecological significance of the site, should it be used for the design development? Is the proposed site near exciting infrastructure such as power lines, roads, waste disposal sites, and water supply? Will the proposed desert contribute the expansion of urban sprawl? Can the resort be built as self-contained unit in terms of waste disposal, water and energy? Another factor should be taken in to consideration for building an eco-friendly resort is the carrying capacity. It is the maximum number of supporting infrastructures and visitors, which can be maintained in a given site before environment damage take place. When the carrying capacity is exceeded, the pollution generated and resources required by resort begin to degrade the natural environment. So it is a very important factor in the site selection. The next stage is to study the potential impact of the environment of the proposed resort; anyhow, they could be reduced or avoided. Environment impact assessment (EIA) can be used to access it. After selecting the site and methods to minimize environment impact the builder needs to find out where on the site the building should be placed. The developers should keep in mind the following things. It can be placed on the culturally and ecologically least interesting part of the site. It can be placed and oriented a according to shadow patterns from surroundings constructions and annual sun cycles to optimize solar design potential. Tress could be used to provide cooling, increase solar gain in winter, and reduce it in winter. Architectural features of sustainable Resorts Passive solar design “Passive solar design refers to the use of the sun's energy for the heating and cooling of living spaces. In this approach, the building itself or some element of it takes advantage of natural energy characteristics in materials and air created by exposure to the sun. Passive systems are simple, have few moving parts, and require minimal maintenance and require no mechanical systems.” (Passive solar design 2007). Passive solar design enables to take the best advantage of airflow and natural sunlight in order to create an energy efficient, comfortable indoor environment in a resort. The intention is to plan layout, shape, and interior of a construction around the sun’s daily and seasonal cycles. Building orientation It is crucial to maximize heat gain in cold climate. In the northern hemisphere, a resort should be elongated on its east west axis and the areas requiring the most heating should face south. In order to benefit from mid winter sunshine, overshadowing from surrounding buildings should be avoided. In hot climate, the aim is to improve airflow, cooling and reduce heat gain. The resort should be constructed on a n axis perpendicular to prevailing wind. Cross-ventilation can be improved through the alignment of windows and doors. Broad leaf trees can reduce solar gain and provide shading. Solar gain need us to be increased in winter and reduced in summer in temperate climate. An east west constructed, rectangular building is the most suitable. Day lighting It is a combination of passive solar design and energy conservation. Its goal is to make the best use of natural daylight to illuminate interiors. Green houses, Conservatories and Atria. Incorporating conservations, green house and atria on the north side of resorts when in the southern hemisphere, and on the south side of the building when in the northern hemisphere can provide for solar collector space. Then, the resort itself can act as an energy store. Incorporating such features to exciting resorts can be expensive and difficult to justify in terms of energy saving alone. However, they can be added in to the initial design at a significantly lower cost. Renewable energy use Renewable energy does not contribute towards depletion of natural resources as it can be produced at he same rate as it is consumed. Some of the renewable energy sources are hydro, wind, solar, bio-fuels and geo-thermal energy. Many government and banks provide grants, loans and subsidies to promote the use of renewable energy. Solar water heating Solar water heating is a sustainable energy source and a cost effective method for hot water supply. Some other methods for renewable energy use are photovoltaics, mounting PV cells, geothermal heat pumps, small hydropower system, wind, and bio-fuels. Architectural features to reuse and reduce water. Rainwater from patios, roofs, paved areas, and driveways can be collected through a network of pipes and gutters and channeled in to a catchment basin or a cistern. In large resorts or areas where there is plenty of rainfall, down spouts in gutters must be located every 20 feet so that they may not overflow. It is also possible to landscape catchment areas to look like marshes or pond, which will improve the aesthetics of the landscaping effort. There are a number of uses for rainwater such as irrigation, in evaporative cooling equipment, in swimming pool and in house uses such as washing and flushing. Landscaping While constructing an eco-friendly resort, landscaping is important because it improves air quality, aesthetics, keep the occupants in touch with nature, provides a sense of place. It can also be used to increase and decrease cooling and heating loads. Sustainable construction of buildings While constructing a sustainable resort, care should be taken to ensure that chosen building design and material specifications do not hamper sustainable design features, reduce energy and materials effectiveness of the resort or compromise on the use of environment friendly building materials. The sites environment integrity should be preserved. Vegetation should be cleared only where resort is to be erected. The recommendations of environment impact assessment (CIA) should be adhered especially in identifying vegetation, which need to be preserved, the use of existing vegetation in landscaping, reducing waste and erosions and silting of nearby waterways and preventing the erosion of topsoil. Sustainable construction is also including providing a cleaner and safer work place. While constructing a sustainable resort, the following points should be kept in mind. For the storage of toxic and hazardous materials, separate areas should be provided for. Recycling collection points should be set up for packaging waste, food waste and construction debris. Protective clothing and safety equipments should be provided to all the personnel associated with constructions. Safety standards on the exposure to toxic materials and the use of construction equipment should not be compromised. Safety measures and procedures in the case of spills, fore and accidents must be clearly understood and respected. Environmentally sound design and construction of resorts The last decade of the twentieth century has witnessed a tremendous increase in the application of sustainable design. In several countries, Environment Impact Assessment is compulsory for medium and large-scale tourism resorts while energy efficiency consideration and passive solar design has been incorporated in to building codes. American institute of architects and the international union of architects signed a joint declaration of independence for a sustainable future in June 1993. That declaration makes a commitment to place social and environmental sustainability to the core of building and architectural design consideration. Developers should not be discouraged, if eco-friendly and sustainable design need huge budgeting at the beginning because it will bring significant savings later. For instance, double glassed window and PV roofing is more expensive to purchase but the energy savings made when the resort is in operation will certainly absorb these expenditures. Case studies on sustainable design ING Bank, the Netherlands (Source: ING Bank, the Netherlands, and Rocky Mountain Institute, Canada) In 1978, the head office of the leading European and Dutch Bank, ING Bank Netherlands was considered conservative and stodgy. The bank’s directors and employees decided to construct a new head office in order to create a new image. It was decided that new building should be organic and must be able to integrate natural materials, art, plants, sunlight, low noise, energy conservation, and water. A team of architects, landscape architects, construction engineers, artists, and energy experts were commissioned to design the building. Building construction started in 1983 and was completed in 1987. ING Bank’s new head office has been considered as an important example of sustainable design. The bank’s 2400 head office employees work in the new building, which is broken up into a series of ten slanting towers. Meeting rooms and restaurants line the internal streets, which connect the ten towers. The floor depth was decided by a criteria that no desk could be located more than 7 meters from a window. Internal towers are designed to bounce day light from exterior window onto ceiling of office spaces. This design, along with window lined interior atriums provides a significant portion of the bank’s lighting. Limited overhead fixtures provide additional lighting needs. The building is not air-conditioned. It relays on mechanical ventilation, thermal storage capacity of the building fabric, back up absorption cooling system and natural ventilation. Interior of the building is decorated with plants, artwork and water. Artworks fill the circulation spaces throughout the bank. Courtyards, rooftops, atriums are landscaped using a variety of garden styles. Water tanks capture rainwater for use in landscaping and fountain. According to ING Bank reports, the building cost for the head office was 3000 Dutch gilders per square meter of land. In the 80’s of the 20th century, it was comparable to other office buildings in Netherlands. As far as energy consumption is concerned, it consumes 0.4 gigajoules/ m2 of energy annually. The additional construction cost for the buildings energy system was around $700,000. However, annual energy savings are estimated at $2.6 million. Other benefits include a drop in employee absenteeism due to better environment and a great improvement in the bank’s corporate image. Works cited Walter, J, and A. Noble. 2000. A Manual for Sustainable Tourism Destination Management. CUC-UEM Project. http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/etour-principles.html Sustainable tourism. 1997. 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Aldereshot, UK: Gower. Passive solar design. 2007. A source book for green and sustainable building. http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/PassiveSol.html Read More