CGI RENDERING & 3D DESIGN COMPANY
Publications
Environmental Strategies for Sustainable Establishment of Massive
Artificial Islands
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By William Ghayth Tintawi
March 01, 2016
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In the last two decades, massive artificial islands had been constructed in the Middle East for the purpose of hosting luxury housing and mixed-use developments. The establishment of these massive artificial islands had caused several negative environmental impacts in the surrounding milieu. These impacts were observed during the construction of the man-made islands and during the construction of the urban fabric above the surface. The impacts had also been observed to be interrelated with the morphology of design.
This thesis aims to investigate guidelines of sustainable applications and strategies that can be adopted and implemented throughout the plan of work, including the design phase, the construction phase, and the maintenance phase, for the purpose of encountering these negative impacts.
This research is based on analytical analysis of secondary data and applied analysis of suggested guidelines through two case studies: Palm Jeremiah and Amwaj Islands. Both artificial islands are pioneer examples of constructed man-made islands in the Arabian Gulf, different construction methods had been used in order to establish these islands and full environmental reports had been conducted before and during the construction. A comparative analysis is also conducted to observe and state the workability of these sustainable strategies and environmental applications.
Even though negative environmental impacts had been marked throughout the establishment of massive artificial islands, however, design strategies and environmental applications had been successfully used to encounter and minimize the negative impacts on the surrounding milieu. New technologies had also made the construction of artificial islands enrichment for the benthic organisms and offered a possible hosting body of renewable energy generators.
Managing Environmental Design Strategies towards
Sustainable Development of Tourism Projects Urbanism (Case Study: The Eastern Coast of the Mediterranean)
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By Claudia Khuloud Ali
March 01, 2016
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As most coastal areas are home to over 50% of the world population, the additional millions of tourists visiting these areas add to the growing environmental concern. The rapidly growing population in coastal areas and the increasing number of visitors deserve further attention than it currently receives. Coastal environments are under increasing pressure and their problems can no longer be avoided or deferred.
In Syria, with an increasing population (especially during the current Syrian conflicts), visitors and economic activities the coastal zone is facing serious problems caused by the congested uses and conflicting usage demand which are often damaging the environment and scenery, in addition, the coastline is threatened in some parts by coastal erosion resulting from development projects and engineering works.
This research aims to study a wide range of complex and related issues that affect the level of human activity a particular environment can sustain. The key issues discussed include land, energy, materials, water, and waste treatment. For the purpose of this study, the environment refers to all aspects of the environment, excluding people to state a conceptual guideline for achieving sustainable tourism development by environmental design strategies in the course of the project life cycle. It could be a first stage in the process of developing environmentally friendly management of resources, and could also highlight the challenges of sustainable tourism on the Syrian coast.
In this research analytical analysis and comparative analysis between several tourism projects were conducted to conclude conceptual guidelines to achieve sustainable development of tourism projects in the coastal zone. Applied studies were conducted by using these guidelines to observe the vulnerability and exposure of the Syrian Coast projects (Porto Tartous and Rotana Afamia) to the negative impacts of tourism. The research had also conducted a questionnaire in order to examine the preferences sub-actions regarding the proposed design guidelines that both designers and developers show towards each environmental element.
The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy environmental resources on which it depends. However, the relationship of tourism with the environment is complex but by efficient environmental management of tourism facilities (e.g. water and energy-saving measures, waste minimization, and use of environmentally friendly material) and by planning sustainable tourism development strategy at an early stage prevents damages and decrease the environmental impact of tourism.