Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Urban Sustainability in Social Housing Using the Casa Azul Label and SBTool Urban in Brazil

Abstract

The sustainability potential of Brazilian social housing (SH) needs to be assessed, considering the impacts on the population’s quality of life and urban systems. One of the main weaknesses of Casa Azul Label refers to the absence of a procedure that quantifies the measures for assessing urban sustainability. Based on the post-occupation analysis of an SH project implemented in Araraquara, São Paulo state, Brazil, evaluation of urban sustainability was developed, using a multi-method approach combining the Casa Azul Label and Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool) Urban certification tools. It was proposed to apply the calculations established in SBTool Urban according to the Casa Azul Label certification requirements, as well as insert a national benchmark as a reference for the analysis and normalizing results. These procedures made it possible to base an improvement framework on a Brazilian environmental certification system, including a quantification system to evaluate the efficiency of the applied measures regarding urban sustainability. The multi-method approach, associated with the SBTool Urban procedures, could significantly help to improve the application of a sustainable assessment system in social housing in developing countries. The high number of residential units produced in recent years could be qualitatively evaluated, improving both the construction procedures and the criteria for the urban insertion of human settlements.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Driving Forces of Sustainable Development of Urban Human Settlements in China for SDGs

“…With respect to research methods, Osman (2021) developed the Voluntary Local Review framework to evaluate and monitor the progress of urban human settlements in Saudi Arabia to achieve SDGs [30]. Gonçalves (2020) believed that the Casa Azul Label and SBTool Urban Dahiya can be suitable for assessing the sustainability potential of human settlements in small towns of developing countries [31]. applied the full permutation polygon synthetic indicator to evaluate the sustainability of China's urban agglomerations, and believed that the development of urban human settlements should still focus on coordination [32].…”

A panorama of Brazilian social housing research: scope, gaps and intersections

“…Sustainability certification tools have been used to assess buildings and urban areas to promote more sustainable development goals and practices in civil construction and urban planning (Gomes;Adão, 2017;Gonçalves et al, 2020). However, in Brazil, the initial cost of implementing energy efficiency is still a major barrier (Bodach;Hamhaber, 2010).…”

“…User comfort levels of a housing unit should attend compliances with the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas -NBR, in Portuguese): NBR 15575 (Residential buildings -Performance), and NBR 15220 (Thermal performance of buildings), considering minimum conditions for summer and winter in all Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones (Oliveira et al, 2015a(Oliveira et al, , 2015b. Moreover, the Blue House Label (Selo Casa Azul in Portuguese) is a sustainability certification focusing on the social sector (Gomes;Adão, 2017;Gonçalves et al, 2020). However, NBR 15220 presents minimum values for parameters, which are considered inadequate, and improvement is needed to simplify and make instrument requirements compatible Souza, 2019;Da Silva, 2017).…”

Housing transformations and their impacts on the well-being of dwellers

“…Families find themselves located far from their employment and social networks, which causes discontent (ACOLIN; HOEK-SMIT; ELOY, 2019;BORGES et al, 2017). As location cannot be changed, upgrading actions should be implemented to improve neighbourhoods through infrastructure, parks, schools, and services (GONÇALVES et al, 2020;ACOLIN;HOEK-SMIT;ELOY, 2019). However, erroneous identification of demands through socioeconomic surveys seems to be the major obstacle to implementing urban renewal programmes (PAES; NEVES, 2017).…”