BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND ETHICAL COMMITMENT TO A SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

The role of building professionals in shaping a sustainable built environment is an internationally agreed agenda. Educating and training tomorrow's professionals who abide by and deliver an ecologically sensitive design is a critical mission that has been extensively embraced by architectural, design and engineering schools worldwide. Similarly to many schools worldwide, the Architectural Engineering program at the United Arab Emirates University has included sustainability throughout its curriculum, resulting in students technically knowledgeable and well prepared to approach and design green buildings through building energy efficiency optimization, material selection and integration of renewable energy systems. However, while the program has increased and deepened the technical knowledge, the analytical and problem-solving skills in these areas, it has not necessarily translated into a higher awareness level and ethical commitment to sustainability. This may be particularly evident in the Gulf countries, where high earnings coupled with subsidized energy, do not reflect the true energy cost. The ethical commitment to sustainable development in the built environment remains yet to be fully reached. These observations may not represent all contexts but it stresses the need for a contextually grounded sustainable education. This paper presents first briefly, the Architectural engineering program's achievements in this targeted area, along the identified sustainability awareness gap. Then it highlights some course activities developed to raise awareness and reinforce commitment to green design. The course content and objectives are outlined but more importantly it describes some activities that seem to have had an impact and triggered self-reflection and potentially responsiveness. Above all, this paper aims to raise the issue of ethical commitments to sustainability and foster a wider discussion on the need for the development of contextual educational strategies to really meet the sustainability targets.