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Check the interesting website here. A lot ideas for a "spiritually-engaged sustainability" orientation. This paper argues firstly, that the modern economic growth model of development, that requires continuous expansion of production and consumption, is inherently unsustainable; Secondly, that modern urbanization is necessarily parasitical, as it depletes and degrades the resources of its host region; Thirdly, that a sustainable economy would be one that fully recycles all that it consumes, while sustainable urbanization would be based on cities that are structurally integrated with the regions from which they derive their basic sustenance, and to which they should provide necessary goods and services; and fourthly, that sustainable development requires a paradigm change that must begin with a redefinition of the goals of development.
Full article here. “We should not follow the high-intensity model of western cities,” says Han Wenke, director of the Energy Research Institute under China’s economic planning agency, referring mainly to energy consumption. “The faster we urbanise, the faster we consume ... We have to take the constraints of energy and resources into account.” Urban migration is drastically changing patterns of consumption and behaviour: China’s city dwellers use three times as much electricity as rural residents, eat 10 times as much sugar, and require vastly more infrastructure as they go about their daily lives. One official estimates that for every person who moves to a city, the government spends Rmb100,000 ($16,000) to build additional roads, bridges, utilities and other public goods – which all require energy-intensive inputs like steel or cement.
Full article here The goal is to develop architectural and urban design strategies that are not energy or resource neutral but rather generative producers (of energy, ecological habitat, food and water) linked into the energy and resource flows of the surrounding environment.
What resonated most is a series of Maori design principles shared by Amanda Yates and Shaun Awatere:
More Here. Additional Resources Here. |
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