Urban areas across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have recently experienced large-scale damage caused by ongoing conflicts, environmental degradation, extreme temperatures, and water stress.
Reconstruction of these built environments is already taking place but will likely do so without supporting environmental regulations. This will reduce the resilience of buildings to climate shocks, as well as the prospects of social stability and economic recovery.
Therefore, the Sustainable Reconstruction & Recovery Framework is critical to putting sustainability at the forefront of recovery, turning challenges into opportunities.
Research into local heritage and cultural practices and inspiring case studies has enabled us to develop a set of principles and an actionable framework for sustainable reconstruction in Arab cities
The Sustainable Reconstruction & Recovery Framework is a toolkit for building back better that brings together local and international expertise to create a holistic, inclusive, and resilient approach to reconstruction in regions experiencing natural disasters and conflict.
Build Back Better, is defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction as:
“The use of the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction phases after a disaster to increase the resilience of nations and communities through integrating disaster risk reduction measures into the restoration of physical infrastructure and societal systems, and into the revitalisation of livelihoods, economies, and the environment.” [1]
The Framework does not propose a one-size-fits-all solution, but has been developed to highlight key issues, approaches, and methods, and proposes bespoke solutions for individual and community-wide sustainable reconstruction projects. The Framework also draws alignments with existing WorldGBC Frameworks for Health and Wellbeing [2] and Whole Life Carbon [3] as well as with the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policies and corresponding Performance Requirements [4].
Page references:
1) UNISDR, Build Back Better in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction (Switzerland, 2017)
2) Health & Wellbeing Framework | World Green Building Council (worldgbc.org)
3) Advancing Net Zero Whole Life Carbon | World Green Building Council (worldgbc.org)
4) EBRD Environmental and Social Policy, 2019
