Ö. Güven, U. F. Küçükali 812 Digital Proceeding Of The ICOEST’2014 - , SIDE Side, Turkey, May 14 – 17, 2014 Journal of Selçuk University Natural and Applied Science Online ISSN: 2147-3781 www.josunas.org The Importance of Sustainable Site Planning Related to LEED Certification Rating System in Public Housing Özgür Güven* 1 Ufuk Fatih Küçükali* 2 1 Master of Architecture Student, Istanbul Aydin University Faculty Of Architecture And Design ,Turkey. (E-mail: ozgur89@gmail.com) 2 Assist. Prof. Dr., Istanbul Aydin University Faculty Of Architecture And Design, Turkey. (E-mail: ufukfatih@yahoo.com ) Abstract In a period the sources are running out quickly, the concept of sustainability has gained importance. Sustainability simply means to do the most work with fewer resources. Green building concept has emerged by the demand of producing buildings which consume less energy and produce its own energy when necessary and damaging the environment less. In addition to this, various green building certification systems in different countries have been started to be used. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system has emerged in the United States but is widely used in all countries. LEED certification scoring tool is consisting of 7 main headings. Among these Sustainable Site Planning takes an important place by 26 points out of 110. In housing production, quality and livable interior design has gained importance by the increase of population. In this manifest, the public housing site plans’ effects on scoring, will be examined in LEED certification systems. Keywords: LEED,Public Housing, Site Planning, Sustainability. 1. SUSTAINIBILITY 1.1. The Concept Of Sustainability Sustainability is a fast growing concept that grew itself from within the environmental movement. To contemplate and understand a sustainable environment, we have to think in terms that this is a project that does not risk the natural resources or the comfort of life needed for our future generations and preserves the environmental values [1]. According to the terminology of United States Environmental Protection Agency green buildings are termed: “life cycle of buildings including; location choice, design, construction, management, maintenance, restoration and rebuilding of the building according to environmental values in relation to infrastructure and efficient structure building with needed resources.” Green buildings are termed “sustainable” or high performance buildings [2]. 1.2. “Sustainability” in Foreign Countries According to United Nations Foodstuffs and Agricultural Agency, the world population will reach 9 billion people and 842 million are right now living under the hunger line. Approximately 1,5 billion people live under less than a dollar. Sustainable lands for agriculture are diminishing. Over farming is detrimental to farming activities worldwide. It is getting harder to find water and variety of food products is going down.