Measuring the Sustainability of the Planning and Design Establishment for the Outdoor Spaces and the Landscape on the Campus "University of Diyala as a Case Study"

Abstract

This study aims to Many higher education institutions worldwide have started integrating sustainable development (SD) programs into their systems as part of a gradual, systematic change of transition towards implementing the concept of sustainability in its environmental, social-economic aspects to measure the impact of these changes. By analyzing and interpreting the data and design a model tool Sustainability assessment for the Diyala University campus, and its statistical analysis to determine the steps taken by the university towards sustainable development. The tool included three main axes: the environmental axis, which includes planning and design indicators, climate change, vegetation and soil cover, water and energy conservation, green transport, waste management and the social axis. It included the indicators of community participation, education, research, and the economic axis. It included indicators to direct the capital’s investment in the sustainability of the campus. The number of the overall indicators studied reached to 83 indicators. The statistical program SAS was used in data analysis to study the correlation and clustered analysis of the axes and indicators included in the campus sustainability assessment tool, the study found the respondents (who participated in the survey), they have linked the environment and economy axis with a level of 0.59 in applying the results of the clustered analysis which showed that there are two main clusters, A and B, where the largest cluster A included 63 indicators out of 83. Most of the environmental study indicators included vegetation cover, climate change, water, energy conservation, waste management, and indicators of the economic axis Encouraging capital investment in campus sustainability. The social axis is to promote the principle of awareness and community participation in consolidating sustainability as a measure that must be adopted. The second cluster includes the environmental indicators of the university’s design in terms of planning, design, protection from weather factors, the use of mass transportation that does not pollute the environment, and the preservation of resources.  A long way is still to go before the Diyala University campus and the university at its first steps, it seeks an organized change towards sustainability. This model can be applied to other local universities