“Sürdürülebilirlik” ve “sürdürülebilir kalkınma” kavramları, 20. yüzyılın sonlarından itibaren, yaşamımızın her düzeyinde karşımıza çıkmakta olan iki güncel, kavramdır. Bu kavramların, doğrudan doğal ve yapılaşmış çevreyle ilgili olduğu düşünüldüğünde, mimarlık alanındaki ve inşaat sektöründeki yansımaları, anlamları ve kullanımları önem kazanmaktadır. Bu önem doğrultusunda, “sürdürülebilir yapım” kavramı, gerek bir süreç gerekse bir yöntem olarak gündeme gelmektedir. Günümüzde, doğal ve yapılaşmış çevrede, özellikle kentsel ölçekte olmak üzere tüm insan yerleşimlerinde küresel boyutlarda rastlanan çevresel, ekonomik ve sosyal sorunlar; gelişmiş ülkelerde ‘çevresel öncelikli’, gelişmekte ve/veya az gelişmiş ülkelerde ise ‘ekonomik ve sosyal öncelikli’ olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. İşte küresel düzeydeki bu çevresel, ekonomik ve sosyal sorunlara ve olumsuz koşullara çare olarak, “sürdürülebilir kalkınma” ön plana çıkmıştır. Sürdürülebilir kalkınma, bugün, toplumu ve çevreyi ilgilendiren hemen her alanda, her sektörde, dikkate alınması gereken temel bir hedeftir, bütüncül bir çözüm yaklaşımıdır. İnşaat sektörü de, tüm bunlara bir istisna değildir; tam tersi, sürdürülebilir bir çevre ve topluma ulaşabilmede, sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedefine varabilmede, en fazla etkili olabilecek sektörlerden birisidir. Bu düşünceler ışığında, bu çalışmanın amacı, yeni bir kavram olarak ortaya çıkan sürdürülebilir yapım ile ilgili literatür araştırması yaparak ve bu araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlara dayanarak oluşturulacak sentezlerle, sürdürülebilir yapımın, ülkesel ve küresel ölçeklerde sürdürülebilir kalkınma ile olan ilişkisini ve ülkesel koşullar bağlamında sürdürülebilir yapım yaklaşımını ortaya koymaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sürdürülebilir kalkınma, inşaat sektörü, sürdürülebilir yapım.By the turn of the 20th century, due to fast industrialization and rapid urbanization, the natural and the built environment have been facing several environmental, economic and social problems. These problems are mostly environmental oriented in the developed countries, whereas they are more concerned with economic and social issues in the developing ones. To overcome these current problems and to ensure future progress in the improvement of economic, social and environmental conditions in human settlements, the concept of "sustainable development" has emerged as a challenge to realize economic and social development, and environmental protection, which are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development-the framework for our efforts to achieve a higher quality of life for all people. In 1987, The World Commission on Environment and Development - also referred as Brundtland Commission, defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" and it has become within the years, an influencing factor of government policy in most if not all countries around the world. Ever since the Rio Summit in 1992, when Agenda 21 was formulated, the concept of sustainability and sustainable development has slowly but surely penetrated the discussions on future direction and progress of all sectors of our society. Thus, we may argue that, in order to achieve sustainable development, its principles should be applied in all sectors of the society and, construction industry is not an exception to this. On the contrary, the construction industry and the built environment must be counted as two of the key areas if we are to achieve sustainable development in our societies. The Habitat II Agenda lays stress on the fact that the construction industry is a major contributor to socioeconomic development in every country. All these arguments bring the concept of "sustainable construction" into the agenda. The Kibert definition for sustainable construction; the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment based on resource efficient and ecological principles" can also be considered as a starting point for defining sustainable construction precisely Accordingly, sustainable construction can be studied through its process, principles and resources. As defined in a CIB report "sustainable construction means that the principles of sustainable development are applied to the comprehensive construction cycle from the extraction and beneficiation of raw materials, through the planning, design and management of the resultant waste. It is a holistic process aiming to restore and maintain harmony between the natural and the built environments, while creating settlements that affirm human dignity and economic equity." Sustainable construction adopts different approaches and different priorities in different countries. Some of them identify economic, social and cultural considerations as part of their sustainable construction framework, but it is raised as a major issue in only a few countries. The main emphasis in national approaches so far has been on ecological impacts to the environment (biodiversity, tolerance of nature and resources). Thus, it can be argued that, in order to be able to achieve appropriate sustainable construction following globally accepted sustainable development principles, each country should initially define its own conditions and then set up sustainability principles for its construction industry. Besides, it is also suggested within the context of this paper, for achieving appropriate sustainable construction, a strategic management approach should be adapted to the process of defining strategies and action plans. With all these arguments in mind, the aim of this paper is to do a thorough literature research on the concept of sustainable construction and through the synthesis of this research, to explain the relationship between sustainable construction and sustainable development at national and global scales, and to set up a new approach to sustainable construction within the context of national conditions. Following this aim, first of all, the historic development of sustainable construction will be summarized, and then, based on the information gathered from the literature, the concept of sustainable construction will be discussed in detail, through its definitions, process, principles and resources. Having analyzed the concept from different points of view, this study will intend to suggest a new approach to sustainable construction within the context of national conditions. Keywords: Sustainable development, construction industry, sustainable construction.
