The ethical commitment to sustainability in the gulf countries; architectural education challenge

The world is changing. International agreements coupled with public policy commitments strive to set sustainability targets in the built environment. Professionals in this field need the skills to respond to this challenge, where education plays a critical role to reach sustainable development. Green design augurs for greater involvement of architectural, design and engineering schools in shaping and preparing tomorrow's professionals who abide by and deliver an ecologically sensitive design. In this context, the Architectural Engineering program at the United Arab Emirates University has embedded sustainability throughout its curriculum, graduating technically knowledgeable students. However, while the program has strengthened the technical knowledge, this has not necessarily translated to a higher sustainability awareness and ethical commitments. This may be particularly evident in the Gulf countries, where high earnings coupled with subsidized energy, do not reflect the true energy usage. The ethical commitment to a sustainable built environment remains yet to be fully reached. Hence, this paper reports on a course, developed to raise awareness and reinforce commitment to green design. It focuses on some activities that seemingly raised awareness. Broadly, this paper aims to raise the issue of ethical commitments to sustainability and foster a wider discussion on educational strategies.