**6. Conclusions: assimilation of sustainable practices by users**

Around 78% of Mexico's population is expected to be located in urban environments by 2050, ranking eighth at the international level [24]. Although agglomeration economies favor the efficient use of resources in cities, the growing demand for natural resources and infrastructure services has an undeniable impact on nature [25], and buildings play a central role in such demand.

Buildings require energy and water to operate and to enable the activities carried out by human beings who use them; therefore, they are sources of pollution [3]. The present study identified a clear trend toward sustainability based on technological solutions included into the design of the facilities. However, a lack of maintenance can reduce the efficiency of the technology or affect its performance. This is an essential factor to involve users in sustainable actions.

The practical impact of this research deal with the organizational factors is the element that adds meaning to sustainability criteria: the introduction of ecotechnology is not enough when the user will fail to use it properly. Therefore, the adoption of sustainability criteria to overhaul buildings is important, but also the incorporation of environmental culture into organizational climate, and consequently, specialized knowledge about sustainability-oriented user patterns is not enough: reasonable goals are needed to achieve habitability as a right to a healthy environment. Certification programs represent a guiding instrument for owners to conduct adequate and decisive actions in favor of sustainability. Even when buildings incorporate the latest technological sustainability features, users must become involved in the sustainable aspect of their physical environment.

The principal finding of the present study evinced the relatively low importance of organizational processes as a factor in the specific actions carried out by local agents to configure sustainable buildings in Mexico City's boroughs, and many of these actions reflect how certification programs are designed, specifically, the low consideration given to social actions.

Infrastructure and technological devices are favored in 76% of the cases, whereas only 24% of the cases favor users' organization. The proportion is very similar in terms of specific actions, and although there is a temporary trend favoring actions associated with facility features, the same proportion is observed in the program's score, since by 2018, 27% of total actions focused on users' organization issues. Improvement processes arise from the particular needs of a building, but any process must always be accompanied by constant monitoring to reproduce the intrinsic motivation of environmental awareness [26]; however, as shown by the decreasing trend in this area, true improvement may not be accomplished.

Users' willingness and abilities are essential for an adequate building management; in the present study, we differentiated the weight of each environmental item by linking them with organizational factors. Control measures are not temporary strategies: sustainable actions must be integrated into the users' activities to consolidate the environmental management program in a given building.

The actions associated with the implementation of energy-saving technologies have an outstanding presence in Mexico City's certification program; however, actual actions differed from this reference. However, the proportion is still uneven: only 30% of total actions were associated with guiding the user toward sustainable behaviors. On the opposite end of this spectrum is the category of solid waste management; in this category, the program allocates greater importance to criteria associated with users' actions (60% of the score), but building owners focused on the same proportion when implementing actions associated with the features of their facilities. The rest of the categories are in line with the score allocated by the

**67**

*Organizational Analysis of Sustainable Building Certifications in Mexico City*

define the most convenient actions to obtain certification.

certification program, which proves its transcendence as a guideline for owners to

The key contribution impact of this study is related with the design of Sustainable Building Certification Program. This program in Mexico City has a series of challenges, for instance, its lack of capacity to transcend into the sustainability framework of the city and its need to produce adequate guidelines to help users internalize sustainability as a vision. The first challenge is associated with the decreasing number of buildings seeking certification, which can be associated with

The second challenge is connected with this lack of interest; the insufficient environmental awareness among building users and owners limits their goals to economic aspects. In this regard, strengthening criteria associated with users' organization would favor the assimilation of a sustainable vision among the population and encourage the renewal of certifications under a shared goal: creating healthy

Mexico City's certification program is undoubtedly a sign of progress in terms of sustainability as a basic component of the urban environment. Buildings take up an average of 90% of the surface area in cities; therefore, they are the most important space in terms of urban sustainability. However, there are many areas of opportunity and strengthening the criteria to encourage sustainable actions by users is paramount. This chapter reveals the marginal importance of the sustainable pattern users in the Sustainable Building Certification Program, nevertheless, the limitations of this research refers with the necessity to explore the central reasons of stakeholders to promote sustainable patterns in contrast with technological investment in sustainable devices. There is a clear tendency to introduce new technology as a solution to reduce environmental impact of human activity, even though the financial cost of

There is no doubt that the sustainable technology will increase and maintain its development. Future studies should analyze the manufacture environmental impact of these technologies in contrast with the investment in sustainable education and promotion of low impact patterns of urban people. We believe that the creation of sustainable consciousness will have a more effective impact in sustain-

ability fv. Finally, users use these devices and make them efficient.

The value of the findings is linked with the low holistic awareness among building users is a sign of decreased interaction with the natural world, which results in poor organizational skills—users perceive themselves as separated from their environment, and they assume that sustainability will be achieved simply by using

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95120*

technology classified as sustainable.

environments for the population.

this technology.

a lack of economic incentives for the owners.

#### *Organizational Analysis of Sustainable Building Certifications in Mexico City DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95120*

certification program, which proves its transcendence as a guideline for owners to define the most convenient actions to obtain certification.

The value of the findings is linked with the low holistic awareness among building users is a sign of decreased interaction with the natural world, which results in poor organizational skills—users perceive themselves as separated from their environment, and they assume that sustainability will be achieved simply by using technology classified as sustainable.

The key contribution impact of this study is related with the design of Sustainable Building Certification Program. This program in Mexico City has a series of challenges, for instance, its lack of capacity to transcend into the sustainability framework of the city and its need to produce adequate guidelines to help users internalize sustainability as a vision. The first challenge is associated with the decreasing number of buildings seeking certification, which can be associated with a lack of economic incentives for the owners.

The second challenge is connected with this lack of interest; the insufficient environmental awareness among building users and owners limits their goals to economic aspects. In this regard, strengthening criteria associated with users' organization would favor the assimilation of a sustainable vision among the population and encourage the renewal of certifications under a shared goal: creating healthy environments for the population.

Mexico City's certification program is undoubtedly a sign of progress in terms of sustainability as a basic component of the urban environment. Buildings take up an average of 90% of the surface area in cities; therefore, they are the most important space in terms of urban sustainability. However, there are many areas of opportunity and strengthening the criteria to encourage sustainable actions by users is paramount.

This chapter reveals the marginal importance of the sustainable pattern users in the Sustainable Building Certification Program, nevertheless, the limitations of this research refers with the necessity to explore the central reasons of stakeholders to promote sustainable patterns in contrast with technological investment in sustainable devices. There is a clear tendency to introduce new technology as a solution to reduce environmental impact of human activity, even though the financial cost of this technology.

There is no doubt that the sustainable technology will increase and maintain its development. Future studies should analyze the manufacture environmental impact of these technologies in contrast with the investment in sustainable education and promotion of low impact patterns of urban people. We believe that the creation of sustainable consciousness will have a more effective impact in sustainability fv. Finally, users use these devices and make them efficient.

*Design of Cities and Buildings - Sustainability and Resilience in the Built Environment*

**6. Conclusions: assimilation of sustainable practices by users**

[25], and buildings play a central role in such demand.

essential factor to involve users in sustainable actions.

in the sustainable aspect of their physical environment.

consideration given to social actions.

Around 78% of Mexico's population is expected to be located in urban environments by 2050, ranking eighth at the international level [24]. Although agglomeration economies favor the efficient use of resources in cities, the growing demand for natural resources and infrastructure services has an undeniable impact on nature

Buildings require energy and water to operate and to enable the activities carried out by human beings who use them; therefore, they are sources of pollution [3]. The present study identified a clear trend toward sustainability based on technological solutions included into the design of the facilities. However, a lack of maintenance can reduce the efficiency of the technology or affect its performance. This is an

The practical impact of this research deal with the organizational factors is the element that adds meaning to sustainability criteria: the introduction of ecotechnology is not enough when the user will fail to use it properly. Therefore, the adoption of sustainability criteria to overhaul buildings is important, but also the incorporation of environmental culture into organizational climate, and consequently, specialized knowledge about sustainability-oriented user patterns is not enough: reasonable goals are needed to achieve habitability as a right to a healthy environment. Certification programs represent a guiding instrument for owners to conduct adequate and decisive actions in favor of sustainability. Even when buildings incorporate the latest technological sustainability features, users must become involved

The principal finding of the present study evinced the relatively low importance of organizational processes as a factor in the specific actions carried out by local agents to configure sustainable buildings in Mexico City's boroughs, and many of these actions reflect how certification programs are designed, specifically, the low

Infrastructure and technological devices are favored in 76% of the cases, whereas only 24% of the cases favor users' organization. The proportion is very similar in terms of specific actions, and although there is a temporary trend favoring actions associated with facility features, the same proportion is observed in the program's score, since by 2018, 27% of total actions focused on users' organization issues. Improvement processes arise from the particular needs of a building, but any process must always be accompanied by constant monitoring to reproduce the intrinsic motivation of environmental awareness [26]; however, as shown by the decreasing trend in this area, true improvement may not be accomplished.

Users' willingness and abilities are essential for an adequate building management; in the present study, we differentiated the weight of each environmental item by linking them with organizational factors. Control measures are not temporary strategies: sustainable actions must be integrated into the users' activities to consoli-

The actions associated with the implementation of energy-saving technologies have an outstanding presence in Mexico City's certification program; however, actual actions differed from this reference. However, the proportion is still uneven: only 30% of total actions were associated with guiding the user toward sustainable behaviors. On the opposite end of this spectrum is the category of solid waste management; in this category, the program allocates greater importance to criteria associated with users' actions (60% of the score), but building owners focused on the same proportion when implementing actions associated with the features of their facilities. The rest of the categories are in line with the score allocated by the

date the environmental management program in a given building.

**66**

*Design of Cities and Buildings - Sustainability and Resilience in the Built Environment*
