Sustainability Assessment of the School Building Site (Case Study: Schools Built After 2003 in Karbala)

Abstract

Sustainable schools are schools that aim to raise environmental awareness among students and teachers through positive environmental practices. The aim of these school is to reduce the negative environmental impacts, especially in the areas of buildings, water, energy, air and waste. The problem of the research lies in absence of application of sustainability concepts in the Karbala city school buildings, which negatively affects the performance of schools environmentally, economically and socially as well as on the grade of scientific students and their awareness of the sustainability dimensions and its role in the establishment of environmentally friendly communities. The research focuses on schools in Karbala where the education in Karbala schools has been determined. The researcher then studies the concept of the sustainable school, its principles and applications on the school site to be used in line with the reality of Karbala city. An analysis of building sites for multiple schools in the city was conducted and an assessment of their sustainability using the SBAM method was undertaken to identify elements that represent weaknesses in order to describe and provide solutions to sustainability problems. At the end of the study, the researcher found that Karbala school sites are at a level of non-sustainability but not far from achieving them.