By Our Reporter
Local property developers have been urged to adapt more environment friendly ways in building our cities for sustainable development.
The call was made during the annual Sustainable Housing and Cities summit organized by the Property show on Thursday at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
This comes at a time when the world is battling with effects of climate change hence the need to change our ways to ensure a sustainable future.
“There is a mad rush for construction activities, huge demand for housing and also a huge population explosion. If these are not well planned for, there is going to be chaos.” Mr. Huzaifa Chawhwala, the CEO Aesthetics Designs said. “For sustainable housing and cities, we need to consider effects of climate changes as we plan for the future.”
A report by the UN projects that 68% of the world population will be living in urban areas by 2050 with close to 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa. Sustainable development therefore cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces.
“We should incorporate a green environment, clean energy, and sewage management among others in our designs, because all these elements affect society and city at large in terms of sustainability.” Mr. Huzaifa added.
Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In architecture, it is essentially about responding to the climate, context and costs of a particular country, city or site in building design.
“We need to begin thinking about future generations. If we deplete all the resources we have now, there will be nothing left for them. We can actually achieve the same housing quality using renewable energy and products and more environment friendly ways of building than you would if you didn’t.” Judy Kyanda, the MD Knight Frank noted.
Speaking during the summit, the chief guest and Minister Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Hon. Betty Kamya explained that the role of government in achieving the global goals in sustainable housing is to provide conducive policy, legislation and regulatory framework and also monitor implementation of such frame work.
“There is a legal framework for planning for the new cities. We just enacted the National Physical Development Planning act which requires the board to plan for the city before the development begins. Government also has the responsibility to put in place structures and services like water and electricity while planning for the city.” Betty Kamya said.