DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE. Aproximación conceptual y operativa de los principios de Sostenibilidad al Sector de la Construcción.

Esta tesis Doctoral aborda el origen, la evolución y las posibilidades de operativizar el concepto de Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la Construcción, y más especificamente en la construcción de edificios.El estudio se basa en los documentos propulsores del Desarrollo Sostenible de las Naciones Unidas, de los cuales se adopta el concepto de Sostenibilidad para establecer un grupo de principios que se vinculen con los agentes involucrados en los procesos de construcción.La cantidad de aspectos a tratar en el espacio que media entre los campos conceptual y pragmático del tema en cuestión, sugirió la conveniencia de organizar la investigación y la redacción de la tesis en cinco partes articuladas, compuestas por trece capítulos.En la primera de esas cinco partes (capítulos I, II y III) se establecen los propósitos del estudio y la orientación metodológica; asimismo se exponen el origen, la evolución y el debate persistente del Desarrollo Sostenible.La segunda parte (capítulos IV y V) contiene los instrumentos técnicos de apoyo que pueden coadyuvar a la operativización de la Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la Construcción. Se describe la implicación Termodinámica de la energía y los materiales con el medio ambiente, los métodos y técnicas adaptables al caso en cuestión, y la producción y consumo de bienes.Estas dos primeras partes proporcionan información básica para proponer la transición de las actividades de construcción a una fase socialmente más responsable denominada Construcción Sostenible, la cual se desarrolla en la tercera parte (capítulos VI, VII, VIII y IX). En esta porción medular de la tesis se establecen las premisas fundamentales para propender a una modalidad de construcción a través de la adecuación de las fases de planificación, diseño, construcción y desincorporación de los edificios.La cuarta parte (capítulos X, XI y XII) se orienta hacia la medición de la Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la Construcción. Para llevar a cabo ese ejercicio de mensuración se seleccionó una región real, donde se identificó un grupo de indicadores de Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la construcción local, y se aplicó un procedimiento híbrido (método convencional-diseñador concientizado) para seleccionar Sosteniblemente los principales materiales para construcción de un edificio.En la quinta parte (capítulo XIII) se acopian resultados, conclusiones y comentarios propositivos para la incorporación de los principios de Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la Construcción, al tiempo que se propone una sinergia de acciones que pueden llevar a cabo los Sectores Universitario, Gobierno, de la Construcción y público interesado en el tema.EXECUTIVEIn recent decades, the relationship between humankind and the environment has grown stronger. Indeed, over time the concern and active participation of citizens in ecological and environmental issues is becoming more frequent worldwise, and more recently the link from those issues to social and economic issues is leading to a new paradigm called sustainability.Accordingly, through this doctoral thesis the origin, evolution, and feasibility to operativize sustainability in the construction sector is studied.The meaning of sustainability is different among the earth´s nations; nevertheless, there are some important common themes such as a concern for the environment and its resource limits and sink limits, and a concern for both inter and intrageneration equity. Thus, those common aspects had brought about that most sustainability definitions appeal to the goodwill so sufficient resources for future generations be left, in order for they having a quality of life similar to ours.In this academic work the criteria from the main United Nations documents about sustainability has been adopted. A benchmark may thus be established by setting out the sustainability principles in order to approach them to the construction sector, dealing with new buildings specifically.To approach sustainability principles for the construction sector, conceptualization and pragmatic (quite different) aspects must to be addressed in order to join them in a common task, taking into account the number of theoretical and empirical themes to deal with. The research and the thesis writing were organized on five linked parts, which make up thirteen chapters.The first part (chapters I, II, and III) is the core of the thesis, because the methodology and the bottom line are set out in those chapters, and also because the origin, evolution, and the sustainable development debate are exposed.The second part (chapters IV and V) relates to the technical items for sustainability such as Thermodynamics, the entropy law and the environment; and then these concepts and their relationship with energy and matter. It is to be stressed that these last items are the main raw materials for the construction sector.This second part also contains tools and techniques to support sustainability, e.g. life-cycle assessment, multtiatribute decision analysis, the environmental impact assessment, sustainability indicators, ISO 14 000 standards, and life-cycle costs for building materials.The previous parts provide enough knowledge and information for conducting a proposal to a more socially responsible construction sector through, the so called, sustainable construction. That is the core subject of the thesis, for which in the third part (chapters VI, VII, VIII and IX) the fundamental premises for sustainable construction are established, those premises stress the adverse environmental impacts from buildings to be tackled by sustainability principles related to resources conservation, minimizing waste through re-use and recycling materials, construction quality, nature protection, and indoor air quality.The approach of sustainability to the construction sector is proposed from the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and deconstruction building phases. Selection of building materials, life-cycle of materials, and major environmental impacts as a result of buildings are highlighted in that third part.The sustainable aspiration requires a benchmark in order to set out the measures to be taken in approaching sustainability. To support that process, the fourth part (chapters X, XI and XII) is orientated to support sustainability, even though that concept is not something that can be gauged in most cases, and whenever possible not necessarily would it be in a quantitative way.To carry out such assessment, a real region and building case study were chosen. Then, a set of sustainabilty indicators was developed and the building materials selection in th