A symposium entitled Creative Sustainability in Architecture and Urbanism, was held in Seoul, South Korea, on 22 March. The event was organized by Professor Sungwoo Shin, Director of the Sustainable Building Research Center (SUSB) at Hanyang University. The symposium provided an opportunity for foreign and Korean speakers to outline various viewpoints on how best to achieve green growth, a very important issue in Korea. It also marked the culmination of 9 years of operation by the SUSB center.
International speakers included N. Larsson (iiSBE), who provided an overview of recent European efforts to move towards net-zero
buildings, Toshiharu Ikaga (Japan) who provided an overview and update on the very successful CASBEE rating system, Chye Kiang Heng (Singapore) with a very thorough review of residential density and planning issues in Singapore, and Professor Yingxin Zhu from Tsinghua University, Beijing, who presented very interesting perspectives on the effects of user behaviour in building performance.
Dr. Shin then outlined current and forthcoming policies in Korea related to greenhouse gas reduction. He was followed by Dr. Seung-
Bok Leigh who described issues related to energy optimization, Dongwoo Shin on construction waste management (a big issue in Korea) and, finally, Hae-Seong Je, describing new ideas on neighbourhood regeneration based on architectural remodeling of existing buildings and spaces.
This event marked a fitting climax to the important work carried out by Dr. Shin and his colleagues during the past nine years; work that will continue within a new organizational framework.
For further information, contact Byeongho Lee at benlee93@hanyang.ac.kr.