An Assessment of Sustainability for Residential Skyscrapers in Accordance with a Multicriteria Decision-Making Method: Nine Dubai Case Studies
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 4
Abstract
Residential skyscrapers (RSs) are very relevant to all aspects of sustainable development as an integral component of urban development. The need for high-rise buildings was first identified in Chicago in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, more and more skyscrapers are being built to accommodate occupants in the small available land plots in the world’s megacities. In this paper, following the review of previous studies, a series of effective indicators are prioritized so that a model for the investigation of the sustainability performance in RSs that is related to the three aspects of sustainability is presented. The RSs should be designed to respond to different requirements during their life cycle, which includes environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainable development in the initial design that results in a higher quality of life in the RSs. The method used in this paper is a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) method for sustainability assessment and the integrated value model for sustainable assessment (MIVES). Nine RSs as case studies have been evaluated in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Based on the multicriteria model used in this paper, the analyzed RSs in Dubai, UAE, have a sustainability performance in the range of 0.29 < SI < 0.62, where SI is the sustainability index.
Practical Applications
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the residential skyscraper’s (RSs) sustainability based on the integrated value model for sustainable assessment (MIVES), which is a decision-making approach. For the literature review, no high-rise building design and construction studies cover all the pillars of sustainability. Therefore, nine case studies were chosen in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and these were evaluated with the MIVES approach. The MIVES integrates three sustainability requirements (environmental, economic, and social), which use the concept of value functions and indicators based on the weight assignment. The formulas for the sustainability index (SI) were defined in this model. Each of these case studies has been quantitatively assessed, and the degree of sustainability of each tower was determined. All these data and results provided a framework and reference to establish a minimum SI that future RSs that are constructed in Dubai, UAE, should achieve. In addition, the evaluation of RSs might be reviewed from other dimensions of sustainability, for example, landscapes for the design of outdoor spaces.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes generated or used during the study are available in repositories online in accordance with funder data retention policies (Alarcon et al. 2010; del Caño et al. 2012).
Acknowledgments
The authors want to acknowledge the kind support offered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Maria del Mar Casanovas-Rubio is a Serra Húnter Fellow.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- A
- total area of surfaces: ceiling, floor, walls, and windows (m2);
- AW
- net glazed area of the window (m2);
- DCv
- decrease concavely;
- DCx
- decrease convexly;
- DL
- decrease linearly;
- DS
- decrease S-shaped;
- ICv
- increase concavely;
- IS
- increase S-shaped;
- j
- value of the ordinate for point j, in the former case where q > 1.0;
- M
- best response is associated with the value equal to the unit. M is a factor that ensures that the value function will be within the range of 0.0–1.0;
- N
- general number of indicators;
- P
- average reflectance of room surfaces (i.e., walls, floors, and ceilings);
- q
- shape factor that defines approximation whether the curve is concave (q < 1.0), a straight line (q ≈ 1.0), convex, or S-shaped (q > 1.0);
- R
- value that determines the shape of the value function;
- R1
- environmental requirement;
- R2
- economic requirement;
- R3
- social requirement;
- Si.x
- score of alternative x that is under consideration, which is related to indicator i being assessed, which is between Smin and Smax. This score creates a value that is equal to Vi (Si,x), and it must be determined;
- Smax and Smin
- maximum and minimum places in the scale of the indicator being investigated;
- T
- restrict visible transfer of the glazing;
- VC
- total weights assigned to the criteria;
- VI
- total weights assigned to the indicator;
- vi(Si.x)
- value of the alternative x regarding a given indicator i;
- VR
- total weights assigned to the requirement;
- αi
- weights assigned to the requirement;
- βi
- weights assigned to the criteria;
- γi
- weights assigned to the indicators; and
- θ
- angle of visible sky (°).
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Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 4 • December 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 6, 2022
Accepted: Aug 9, 2023
Published online: Sep 25, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 25, 2024
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