Urban sustainability indicators for Cuenca city: evaluation of low energy consumption materials in construction

Abstract

Introduction. Sustainable development within cities in recent years is a matter of total responsibility for those of us who inhabit the planet, construction actors have also joined to propose alternatives based on research on materials used in this activity; without generating a significant impact on the environment and inconvenience or scarcity for future generations. In this project we will apply a descriptive and analytical non-experimental research methodology for the search and selection of appropriate indicators regarding materials with low energy consumption in construction, to finally give way to the formation of a framework for them that can be applied within the city of Cuenca and go according to their reality. Objective. Determine sustainability indicators for materials with low energy consumption in construction that contribute to the sustainability of the city of Cuenca. Methodology. For this, the applied methodology focuses on non-experimental, descriptive, and analytical research; Within it is the search and selection of suitable indicators for the city of Cuenca regarding materials with low energy consumption in construction, this will serve for the knowledge and scope of the proposed objectives, from this the stages that are established are established. They are detailed below: Bibliographic review, consisting of the exploration of each methodological guide and evaluation tools on sustainability indicators for cities; Classification, once the documentation was analyzed, the indicators related to the topic under discussion were obtained; Analysis, which indicators relate to the topic, due to the degree of repetition between the revised guidelines and assessment tools; Homologation, considered as the repetition of indicators in the evaluation guides and tools and finally; Definition, according to expert judgment, the ideal indicators for the evaluation of sustainable construction materials will be defined. Results. With the information collected in this project, a framework of urban sustainability indicators is presented that are related to materials with low energy consumption in construction for the city of Cuenca, these were identified by reviewing the different methodological guides and evaluation tools, taking as a start an international context to take it to local levels. Conclusion. There is no strict definition of the indicators that have to do with materials with low energy consumption in construction; however, it was possible to obtain information that corresponds to sustainable development in this field and area of ​​construction and a framework was created with five indicators that are related to the subject.