New Eco-City: Incorporating Sustainability into the Concept Master Plan

Several international tools and standards (e.g., LEED, BREEAM) exist for evaluating the level of sustainability of buildings and neighborhoods. Nonetheless, they still are not available in the context of new city-scale developments. Although such sustainability appraisal tools are important, of special interest to practitioners is how to ensure that their requirements are well integrated in a proposed city master plan (MP). New eco-city development is the focus of this study. A concise preproject planning process, consisting of stages and activities, is proposed as a guide to assist the design manager of a new eco-city construction project. The proposed process covers the concept phase and assists in evaluating the concept MP alternatives in light of predefined sustainability requirements.