Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools: Designing a Nigerian Response (pp339-354)

The search for finding solutions to urban problems led to the emergence of efforts to apply the concept of sustainability to cities. Many assessment tools have been developed to assess sustainability index from buildings to neighborhoods and urban centers. Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment (NSA) tools are peculiar to regions with the payload to examine the buildings within their environments, evaluate society, tenure, transportation, water, air, energy and biologic diversity economically, environmentally and socially. This paper presents the development of a building performance and design tool that is designed and intended to assist the Nigerian government with its building codes and policies and also building practitioners with the design process. The methodology is based on a review of existing building rating systems and NSAs, from which a system adapted to the requirements of the Nigerian National Building Code for residential buildings is proposed. Methodology is further developed into a design tool whose features include a case study as a reference building validated through Independent Assessors Correlation Module. This paper will assist the Nigerian National Building Code in establishing policies favorable to the Built Environment and aid designers in the creation of sustainable buildings in Nigeria, as well as serving as an exemplar to other developing African countries.