The Development of Sustainability Evaluation System for Architectural Development in MENA Region via Islamic Principles

Facing the harsh reality of global warming and all that it entails from environmental degradation, species extension, increase in fossil fuel cost, scarcity of materials and other outcomes that will be further explained in this thesis; the need for clear, unified and logical guidelines for environmental conscious construction and architectural development processes is a demand that is now more pressing than ever given the alarming statistics of various impacts, their causes and the effects of the built environment and human practices on earth and its other occupants. The solution for such issues was perceived by international institutions as the conception of rating systems that evaluate the development process and built environment. However, the argument was set that the international systems which are being facilitated in MENA region do not correspond to the local environmental, climatic, and social circumstances. Hence in order to solve the problem presented of international system's inadequacy; I have targeted a different source for the development of a suitable rating system. That source was none other than the one stable guideline which is the Islamic religion and its teachings when it comes to the human behavior towards the natural environment. Accordingly, a new Islamic Based Sustainability rating system has been developed.