Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Introduction
Built environment can be defined in several ways:
• all the structures people have built when considered as separate from the natural
environment (the British English definition),
• artificial or man-made surroundings built to serve for a particular purpose, e.g.,
human activities ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal
places (Biology-Online.org),
• all the structures people have built when considered as separate from the natural
environment (the American English definition),
• the term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide
the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings and parks or
green space to neighbourhoods and cities that can often include their supporting
infrastructure, such as water supply, or energy networks. The built environment
is a material, spatial and cultural product of human labour that combines
physical elements and energy in forms for living, working and playing. It has
been defined as ''the human-made space in which people live, work and recreate
on a day-to-day basis'' (Linked in),
• the ''built environment encompasses places and spaces created or modified by
people including buildings, parks and transportation systems''. In recent years,
public health research has expanded the definition of ''built environment'' to
include healthy food access, community gardens, ''walkabilty'' and ''bikeabil-
ity'' (
http://www.ieltsinternational.com/
).
A built environment is developed in order to satisfy residents' requirements.
Human needs can be physiological or social and are related to security, respect and
self-expression. People want their built environment to be aesthetically attractive
and to be in an accessible place with a well-developed infrastructure, convenient
communication access and good roads, and the dwelling should also be compar-
atively cheap, comfortable, with low maintenance costs and have sound and
thermal insulation of walls. People are also interested in ecologically clean and
almost noiseless environments, with sufficient options for relaxation, shopping,
fast access to work or other destinations and good relationships with neighbours.
It must be admitted that the most serious problems of built environments, e.g.,
unemployment, vandalism, lack of education, robberies, are not always related to
the direct physical structure of housing. Increasing investment into the develop-
ment of social and recreational centres, such as athletic clubs, physical fitness
centres, and family entertainment centres, the infrastructure, a good neighbour-
hood and better education of young people, can solve such problems. Investment,
purchase and sale of a property and its registration have related legal issues. The
legal system of a country aims to reflect its existing social, economic, political and
technical state and the requirements of the market economy.
The built environment is not constructed in an empty space. During the built
environment
life
cycle—brief,
designing,
construction,
maintenance,
facility
