Socioculural Sustainability of Future Learning Environments

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SOCIO-C CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY OF FUTURE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: The Case of the New Kuwait University Campus

open house international Vol 34, No.1, March 2009 Socio-Cultural Sustainability of Future Learning Environments...

Yasser Mahgoub Abstract This paper investigates factors influencing the shaping of future learning environments. It focuses on the impact of social and cultural requirements on the sustainability of future learning environment. It argues that while today's learning environments are shaped by yesterday's visions, future learning environments are shaped by toady's' visions that might not be acceptable nor valid for future generations. The case of New Kuwait University City in Shedadiyah is used to illustrate how current social and cultural requirements impact the design of a future university campus and inhibit the production of a sustainable environment. Among several socio-cultural factors, the paper focuses on two significant aspects that have dramatically affected the development of the master plan for the New University City; namely separation of students' sexes and car parking requirements. The first requirement was mandated by a parliament decree to build two separate campuses; one for male students and the other for female students. The implementation of this requirement resulted in the duplication of many educational facilities and immensely increased space and budget requirements. The second requirement reflected dependency on automobiles as primary means of transportation in Kuwait. It resulted in a necessity to allocate large areas of land for vehicular traffic and car parking. These two requirements, as well as other socio-cultural requirements, created a great challenge towards achieving the required level of sustainability. The paper concludes that while recognizing that accommodating clients' social and cultural requirements is necessary for the application of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, these requirements might work against achieving required levels of other aspects of sustainability. K e y w o r d s : Sustainability, Socio-Cultural Factors, Campus, Master Planning, Kuwait.

INTRODUCTION Architects and planners are continuously faced by the challenge of how to accommodate their clients' social and cultural needs while adhering to other aspects of sustainability. A comprehensive sustainability strategy calls for the recognitions of the three aspects of sustainability; economic, environmental, and socio-cultural needs of the users. This paper argues that satisfying clients' socio-cultural requirements might act against achieving the sustainability goal. It analyses the impact of social and cultural requirements on the development of the master plan for the New Kuwait University campus in Shedadiyah in terms of its sustainability, in order to illustrate how current social and cultural requirements impact the design of a future learning environment and inhibit the production of a sustainable environment. The paper's second goal is to illustrate how future learning environments are shaped by toady's' social and cultural visions that might not be acceptable nor valid for future generations. 68

Murning (2006) traced the development of university campuses in the West and concluded that, "we are now in what has been described as the fourth phase in the evolution of buildings for tertiary education." For Murning, the earliest was the inception of universities, where communities of scholars integrated into the urban fabric in centers, the second was redbrick universities of the nineteenth century and the third was the post-war creation of campus environments. Now is the era of expanded access to education, lifelong learning and pedagogical changes from a teaching-based culture to a student centered learning environment for student 'consumers' who take a far more pro-active role in shaping their education than earlier generations. The phenomenon of constructing new university campuses stemmed from the need to educate new generation of university graduates to serve the society. According to Halsband (2005), "the best university campuses are places that have been carefully designed over decades, even centuries." Richard Brodhead (2004) has defined the universi-


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