Courtyard houses in Yazd
Yazd province is located in center part of Iran in a desert area.This area has hot and arid summer and cold winter,hot days and cold nights with low amount of rainfall.To adjusting to this condition courtyard houses have been constructed to protect residents from direct sunlight,heat, cold weather,dust and sand storms that are usual in desert areas like Yazd.
Courtyard houses have few windows to sidewalks.They have yard at center of them with more windows.Because of this features courtyard houses reduce the amount of direct sunlight,sand storm,dust,heat,cold and protect the building.Furthermore this houses have two main parts for different seasons especially summer and  winter.In summer residents move to summer area.This area receive the most shadow.The winter area catch the most sunlight in winter therefore it is warmer than other parts.Other parts of house around courtyard depending on owner budget could be construct that is called four-season houses.These parts connect summer areas to winter areas.

 These kind of houses have been constructed in the way to be efficient and use low amount of energy in different seasons.Therefore they could be consider as sustainable buildings.Most of this buildings are traditional and remained from the past but they could be use as a pattern in ecovillages.

SOURCE:Keshtkaran.P (2011)Harmonization between climate and architecture in vernacular,Procedia Engineering,Published by Elsevier Ltd,pp 428-438

Ecovillage

  The Ecovillage at Currumbin ,source:http://theecovillage.com.au/
Today because of the climate change and global warming that caused by human activity some people gather together and organize community to decrease the climate change and pollution.Ecovillage is the name of the sattelment for these people.The aim to establish this place is to have a peaceful interaction with nature and to conserve the ingredients of the land like water,soil,air and etc.To achieve  this aim individuals who live in this village should live as sustainable as possible.For example they should plant vegetables and trees to have food and use local material to build buildings in village.The design of the buildings should be in the way that capture the most sunlight it winter to make it warm and also keep it cool in summer.For communication in village they could use bicycle and cars that use solar power.Wetlands and bushpounds could be used as source of water and recycled on-site.Every thing will be povided on-site and nothing wil be brought to the site.

http://www.greenlifestylemag.com.au

http://www.golfindustrycentral.com.au

Ecovillage at Currumbin is sout-east  Queensland is an example of ecovillage in Australia.It has over than 200 rasidence.In general these villages could be the future of human life not just in vilage scale,perhaps in city scale.

sources:Hu.d,Wang.R (1998) Exploring eco-construction for local sustainability: An eco-village case,Journal of  Ecological Engineering,Vol11,pages 167 to 176

Kandovan,a sustainable village in Iran
Kandovan  is a village in northwest of Iran,in Azarbayejan province.This village is located in mountains with cone shape rocks.People excavated  this rocks in the past and different generations have lived in these rocks for many years.These houses are sustainable because of some reasons.
firstly rocks are resistant to the climate factors such as rain,humidity,snow,wind and etc.They have remained for years and human usage. Secondly,the wall of the houses are thick (about 2 or 3 meters) and create insulation that could keep inside the rocks cool in summer and warm in winter. Actually the thickness of walls decrease the temperature oscillation inside the rocks.

                                         source:http://www.tourismontheedge.com
Although all of the buildings are not made in rocks,This village create th epractical and suitable way to built and use space therefore it could be consider as sustainable house to live.

source:Yahvai.s,shaghaghi.s (2012) Investigation of the structural characteristics of Kandovan village from sustainability perspective,Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, TextRoad Publication,Iran

Sustainable structures in Iran (natural refrigerators)
Yazd province is located in desert area in Iran.It has hot and dry climate and the temperature oscillation in summer and winter even between day and night is high.Generally Yazd has 2 seasons, long summer and short winter.Because of hot climate,in the past, in some parts of Yazd ,people built Icehouses to store ice for summer.This Ice houses consist of the ice house,dome,main wall and little pool.The dome has been built on the pool.In winter the rain water fills the pool and at night water changes to ice.Wall helps to keep ice safe from sunlight.After that ices are brought to Ice house to store for summer.

                                          source:http://www.iras.ir

However these structures have been used in the past because there were no electricity,they could be use az sustainable structure now.Therefore few changes should be implement to make it practical for present situation.For example things like easy  accessibility and also the size of structure could be change.Therefore buildings in both rural and urban areas (mostly suburb) could have it as a sustainable structure.
source:www.itto.org

                                        source:www.Sydney media.com.au
Sustainability Apartments in Sydney

Most of the people in Sydney live in apartments.These apartments have been constructed in different time with different attitudes.Therefore they should be adjusted to present situation.Apartments in Sydney use about 40%  water of the city, produce 11% of it's waste and emit 10% greenhouse gas.
To reduce this amount of usage,the Smart Green Apartments program have been developed to help residents.This program make an apartment more cost efficient and more energy efficient.
The most energy in apartments is used in common areas like parking and lobby.Therefore owners and residents should focus on these areas most.
The increase of social interaction between residents could lead to better cooperation and make it easier.It is important to know how they use energy az a whole and where they can reduce it.For example they can reduce the amount of lights in the parking or make it smart.Furthermore residents can use roofs az an effective area.They can put solar power system or wind turbine and also they can built a garden on the roof to grow whatever they need as food.

                                          source:www.infoline.com
To decrease the amount of water usage residents can put small tanks on the roof to capture rainwater.Treatment of grey water on-site could be useful.

Resources:Sustainable water in the urban environment,2004 confrence-Brisbane
                  http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au