Dear Muhammad, resource efficiency in architecture and planning - as reflected in 'green' certification systems - seems to be mainly related to energy efficiency, especially operational energy for heating/cooling and lighting and associated carbon emissions. I once heard an architect claim that his firm's office skyscrapers were green because of such features. But what about all the material resources and embodied energy consumed by such buildings, especially when this could be avoided by making better use of existing building stock ? You could examine whether material efficiency receives enough attention in certification schemes, especially given the importance now being placed upon 'circular economy' in EU and elsewhere, and how this may impact upon certification. You may wish to refer to our paper on 'Towards a Resource-Efficient Built Environment...' in Jnl Industrial Ecology April 2017 or on my ResearchGate. Hope this helps, David

thanks a lot respected sir

Any other help related to this topic will be more appreciated i want to focus towards buildings Mr David Ness

Thanks Muhammad, I will try to help. I am interested to see that HafenCity University focusses on architecture, civil engineering and urban planning, so it is quite unique. Also I understand it is not for profit public university. I am happy to talk with you and your lecturers/supervisors, perhaps by email, skype or phone. Best wishes, David

Your Master’s thesis topic in "sustainable architecture" can help you in the future to find a job, so you must find something related with your personal interests. If you want to work in Germany, it might help you to look to research projects done in your university, as it might be very interesting for you to choose a topic that might be developed in connexion with it, even if it is a little difficult in the beginning. You might look for instance (web: https://www.hcu-hamburg.de/en/research/coordinated-projects/) to these projects and try to find information about them:

. Smart Transition of EU cities towards a new concept of smart Life and Economy — mySMARTLife (Horizon-Partner)

Geleitet von: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Knieling (Stadtplanung und Regionalentwicklung)

Projektlaufzeit: 2016-2020

Gefördert durch: Europäische Union (EU)

. Cities Cooperating for Circular Economy — FORCE (Horizon-Partner)

Geleitet von: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Knieling (Stadtplanung und Regionalentwicklung)

Projektlaufzeit: 2016-2020

Gefördert durch: Europäische Union (EU)

. REPAiR - REsource Management in Peri-urban AReas: Going Beyond Urban Metabolism (Horizon-Partner)

Geleitet von: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Knieling (Stadtplanung und Regionalentwicklung)

Projektlaufzeit: 2016-2020

Gefördert durch: Europäische Union (EU)

. Area 21

Geleitet von: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Knieling (Stadtplanung und Regionalentwicklung)

Projektlaufzeit: 2017-2020

Gefördert durch: Europäische Union (EU)

. Northern Connection (Interreg-Partner)

Geleitet von: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Knieling (Stadtplanung und Regionalentwicklung)

Projektlaufzeit: 2017-2020

Gefördert durch: Europäische Union (EU)

Then, you might see if there is some collection of data about buildings in some area that you might do, both as part of the European Research project and of your own "sustainable architecture thesis". Then, try to speak with those professors and convinced them to let you be part of their project. Imagine you are interested in “Circular Economy”….

1. You look for the web site of “Cities Cooperating for Circular Economy — FORCE (Horizon-Partner)”: http://www.ce-force.eu/

2. You see that “The FORCE project aims to minimise the leakage of materials from the linear economy and work towards a circular economy. The four cities involved in the project, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lisbon and Genoa, will engage enterprises, citizens and academia in 16 participatory value chain based partnerships to create and develop eco-innovative solutions. Each city will establish a lead partnership for one of the four materials: plastic waste, strategic metals from electronic and electric equipment, surplus food and biowaste, and wood waste.” And that the city of your university, Hamburg, will “aim to achieve the collection of used second-hand shops with attached repair units (EEE) of 65% to implement the 2019 EU target on WEEE” ( http://www.ce-force.eu/pages/city-of-hamburg--strategic-metal-waste_52790693.php).

3. You think a little as a future architect, and ask yourself questions such as: Are there “second-hand shops with attached repair units” in Hamburg now? Are there systems to collect waste created by old electronic and electric equipment (WEEE)? Where? They store those WEEE in buildings, open spaces out of the city…? Do not forget that you have those as elements of many building services and systems…

4. If you have a good idea for “A web portal will help people to decide whether to repair broken EEE used, to sell it (re-use) or to recycle it via collection stations” for those elements, contact them and think of your Master thesis topic.

I wish you best luck with it!

Thanks A lot Respected madam for such a comprehensive reply it really helps me a lot