Global trends in sustainability rating assessment systems and their role in achieving sustainable urban communities in Saudi Arabia

Sustainability as a concept is tackled a lot in contemporary urbanism due to its importance; consequently, this led to the development of global trends toward achieving it. The current research attempts to identify how sustainability could be achieved in urban design and how to comply with the global concerns. This paper tackles the experiences of the global trends toward sustainability concepts in terms of its application by examining a range of contemporary global urban examples. It depends on a comparative analytical assessment using the ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Neighborhood Development, LEED-ND’ assessment system in order to address the criteria measuring the sustainability indicators for these examples. These criteria are mainly grouped under the following categories: sustainable planning and design, water management, energy management, waste management, transportation and construction materials and resources. The research mainly aims to identify strategies and criteria assisting in achieving sustainability concept and implementation in urbanism at international level and their role in achieving sustainable urban settlements in Saudi Arabia. In order to achieve this aim, the research methodology includes the following: review of the global sustainability assessment tools, review of the ‘LEED-ND’ assessment system, analytical comparative assessment of ‘King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’ and ‘Masdar City’ according to the ‘LEED-ND’ system as case studies and identifying strategies and criteria that achieve sustainability in urban design and planning.