Dear Jawaid,

environmental regulation is a legislative act that every citizen must respect. In European Union, we have a gerarchical legal system: from EU to National and local level. Usually for small scale there are local rules that are compulsory. In general local rules apply, giving quantitative values, National and EU principles.

About how we can ensure quality around building, you must refers to the local rules and design principles, such as universal design, quality in public spaces, use of green, sustainable materials, etc..

Particularly important is to apply a participatory design with local residents and stakeholders.

Best

Antonio

Dear Jawaid,

Various Development controls definng density, setbacks,; , environmental standards such as Daylighting, artificial lighting , IAQ, thermal comfort standards, acoustic environment, sustainability parameters, standards for water supply, sewage,elec  , EIA  studies : all collectively form environmental  regulations for built environment. 

For the quality of micro-climate and environmental quality at neighborhood and suburban level one can refer to  environmental regulations fixing no: of trees , mimimum green area , min size of green pockets, design of pavements  as described in GRIHA  or IGBC rating systems of India or LEED . There are a lot of studies in CEPT Ahmedabad .  

I think Government should make various agencies responsible for environmental problems.

Dear Jawaid,

Generally and I think that in all countries and cities, there are regulatory regulations formulated primarily in the management plans and monitored by the environmental authority; in the case of Colombia, emphasis is placed on the issue of the generation of more and better public space, where the Green structure (vegetation, tree planting, empradizacion, fitotectura) plays an important role understanding, the principle of environmental sustainability and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of a place is a neighborhood or community. Is diagnostic strictly environmental attributes and seeks its consolidation from the Declaration of "soil protection" where according to the standard, is can not intervene with construction processes invasive activities that alter the Green and water structure of the place or sector.

At least so say the rules, the issue is that it should be supported by technical, legal processes and Government (e.g., urban control) to ensure compliance with them; the other no less important part, has to do with the education and empowerment of the citizens and residents of the place to intervene so that they are guarantors of the process of environmental improvement and their quality of life. Then, it is possible to intervene an urban sector starting from the plans of renewal, revitalization or improvement where be must prioritize public space with quality and pedestrian mobility.

Most places to have laws as what has already been stated but there is also normally a collaboration of different disciplines involved. There may even be complications between two different parties. Then the definition is very dependent on how each professional sees the situation. You can bring in a geographer, environmental health specialist, landscape designer, architect, etc. to discuss what it means and needs to regulate the built environment. There may also be a big debate, thus possibly never coming to a conclusion. However, one factor normally not considered is the human factor, the people who actually use the space. Are we not part of the ecosystem as well? Do we not influence our environment, wildlife, plant-life, and other people? Do we not endanger or engage our own well being?

I for one am very enthusiastic about your question because of the discipline I am pursuing, Design Studies for Human Health. Think of it as therapeutic architecture. It is a matter of designing the environment to suit the needs of the demographic, not just the sustainability, preservation, or the approval of programs such as LEED. If you take into consideration the human factor of the environment, there is a matter to be aware of in regards to all the same disciplines as the professionals, just as a designer who collaborates with people who are much more knowledgeable about a field and finding a solution to the problems. This in itself will increase the quality of the building as well as a long term goal and hopefully, with little to none architectural changes (avoiding fads that just don't work, go out of date, not appealing, etc.) and just with the requirement of general maintenance as with any building.

Bringing in so many professionals, designers, engineers, etc. may increase the time and money to ensure a successful project or even a definition of the built environment but the quality may be more uniform and a success. Revolutionary even.

Dear Jawaid,

Once again you identified a key challenge for both researchers and policy/lawmakers. As I said elsewhere, we should have an evidence-based regulation and, as researchers, we ought to produce these evidences.

It is well known that neighborhood is a major determinate of built environment quality, also in terms of health (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230895728_Neighborhood_Effects_on_the_Long-Term_Well-Being_of_Low-Income_Adults). Because of the complexity of modern cities we need to take into account a lot of parameters, for some of them exists a large body of evidence, as for the effects of green spaces (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283213915_Green_areas_and_public_health_improving_wellbeing_and_physical_activity_in_the_urban_context), but this is not true for a lot of others. As Chloe has already said, to define  environmental quality of built environment we need to put together different professionals. Research should be approached in a transdisciplinary way, meaning that we need to organize the knowledge around a complex, heterogeneous domain rather than around our specific disciplines and subjects into which we commonly organize the knowledge (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247150092_Lawrence_Roderick_J_Housing_and_health_from_interdisciplinary_principles_to_transdisciplinary_research_and_practiceFutures).

Your concern was to find some studies dealing with micro-climate and environmental quality at neighbourhood and suburban level, you can find some interesting knowledge here:

http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/96965/E82629.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250061446_Reducing_Risks_to_Cities_from_Disasters_and_Climate_Change

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40847999_Mapping_Community_Determinants_of_Heat_Vulnerability

As Professor Kumar remembered, there are different systems as LEED, some of them are summarized in this study, but their mainly focused on indoor environment:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267568533_Housing_quality_and_its_health_impact_in_Italy_current_knowledge_methodological_issues_new_evaluation_models (unfortunately the paper is in Italian).

Anyway thank you for the question.

Article Neighborhood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-Income Adults

Article Green areas and public health: Improving wellbeing and physi...

Article Housing and health: From interdisciplinary principles to tra...

Article Reducing Risks to Cities from Disasters and Climate Change

Article Mapping Community Determinants of Heat Vulnerability

Article [Housing quality and its health impact in Italy: current kno...