Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals in Building Projects

Building designers are struggling to deeply integrate the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in projects. The review of the literature revealed that the available research is focused on linking the current practices, including sustainable building practices, with the SDGs. This has, in turn, limited the development of novel approaches as well as new building design methodologies that specifically aim at attaining the agenda’s targets. To help building design teams achieve the meaningful integration of the agenda’s five Ps, this paper proposes two analytical mapping tools which can be used during the integrated design process to track the integration of SDGs in the building projects, and to analyze the building design approaches and visions in reference to the topics of the goals. The research uses a case study for an energy-positive building in Quebec to test the proposed tools. The analysis focuses on the integration of 8 of 17 SDGs, discusses the specific building features which were used to achieve this integration, and analyzes the team’s design visions regarding the goals. The results reveal that in the case studied, the integration of the 8 SDGs moves beyond the current standards by mostly applying design approaches which are future-driven and focused on products and technologies. This research provides important practical tools that can inform building practices in the private and the public sector and contributes to the theory and practice of sustainable building design. It also supports the current effort towards the implementation and localization of the SDGs