The implications of the use of building environmental assessment tools within the building practice in Turkey

Researchers in the field of built environment have recently called for a shift in paradigm in designing from the current one framed by a mechanistic worldview to one informed by whole/living systems, that is, an ecological worldview. This call indicates the need of innovating ways of designing and ways of living. This is not an easy task since buildings and cities result from socio-technical systems guided by deep structures, sharing a number of systems of provision, such as energy, transportation, policy, and technology. Therefore innovation requires a systemic approach. Despite these calls and the growing number of alternative design and assessment tools, a particular set of tools, developed based on a mechanistic worldview, appear to dominate the ‘real’ market. The building environmental assessment tools (BEATs), such as BREEAM, the Procedure HQE, and LEED, have significantly affected both the public and the market awareness and the perception of what a sustainable building is. Currently in Turkey, the future direction of sustainability in architectural design seems to rely on the abilities of LEED and BREEAM. Due to the lack of better alternatives, these tools are used as design guidelines, instead of their original objective as assessment of projects. Therefore the thesis intends to understand what the promise of these tools would be in steering us towards a new paradigm, possibly through a number of radical innovations which diverge from cognitive, regulatory, and normative rules of the context, both at the practice level and the socio-technical system of the built environment. The thesis presents a critical review of BEATs based on a discussion of the contested nature of the concept of sustainability and the design principles of the ecological worldview. It then elaborates two heuristic models developed in middle-range theory called Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), and social practice theory (SPT) to study the design practices framed by BEATs through qualitative analysis of six case study projects. To gain a holistic understanding of the appreciation of these tools in the field, the thesis also conducts a survey on two groups of professionals –those who worked on certified projects and those without prior experience. The thesis first explores the use of BREEAM and LEED within the design practices of case study projects in Turkey through SPT to reveal how the architects accommodate their practice relative to BEATs and to examine whether these practices introduce radical innovations. Second, through the heuristic methodology provided by MLP, it investigates the influences of these tools in enabling major deep-structural changes in the building sector by underscoring the interactions between these niche practices and the regimes in the socio-technical system of built environment. Based on the synthesis of these practices with BEATs, along with their interactions with the overarching regimes effective on the socio-technical system of built environment in Turkey, the thesis discusses the barriers in routine practices of design professionals that preclude making radical innovations in process. It suggests ways to develop new practices in the field of architecture and reveals the problems stemming from the application of international tools in Turkey. The study puts forth the importance of considering the structuring effects of socio-technical regimes while developing new practices for attaining sustainability in built environment and suggests new considerations for next generation assessment tools.