SUSTAINBLE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE

UNIT 1

Concept of Sustainability – Carrying capacity, sustainable development – Bruntland

report – Ethics and Visions of sustainability.

SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological
systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and
forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the
potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which has ecological, economic,
political and cultural dimensions. Sustainability requires the reconciliation of
environmental, social equity and economic demands - also referred to as the "three
pillars" of sustainability or (the 3 E’s).

BURTLAND COMMISSION
Formally known as the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED),
the Brundtland Commission's mission is to unite countries to pursue sustainable
development together. To rally countries to work and pursue sustainable development
together, the UN decided to establish the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland
Commission officially dissolved in December 1987 after releasing Our Common Future,
also known as the Brundtland Report, in October 1987, a document which coined, and
defined the meaning of the term Sustainable Development: “development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.”

CARRYING CAPACITY
Population that can be supported indefinitely by its supporting systems.
In ecological terms, the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the size of the population
that can be supported indefinitely upon the available resources and services of that
ecosystem. Living within the limits of an ecosystem depends on three factors:

 The amount of resources available in the ecosystem,

 The size of the population, and
 The amount of resources each individual is consuming.

A simple example of carrying capacity is the number of people who could survive in a
lifeboat after a shipwreck. Their survival depends on how much food and water they
have, how much each person eats and drinks each day, and how many days they are
afloat. If the lifeboat made it to an island, how long the people survived would depend
upon the food and water supply on the island and how wisely they used it. A small
desert island will support far fewer people than a large continent with abundant water
and good soil for growing crops.

In this example, food and water are the natural capital of the island. Living within the
carrying capacity means using those supplies no faster than they are replenished by the
island's environment: using the 'interest' income of the natural capital. A community that
is living off the interest of its community capital is living within the carrying capacity. A
community that is degrading or destroying the ecosystem on which it depends is using
up its community capital and is living unsustainably.

Equally important to community sustainability is living within the carrying capacity of the
community's human, social and built capital. Carrying capacity is much harder to
measure for these types of capital, but the basic concept is the same -- are the different
types of capital being used up faster than they are being replenished? For example:

 A community that allows its children to be poorly educated, undernourished, and

poorly housed is eroding its human capital.
 A community that allows the quality of its social interactions to decline through
lack of trust, respect, and tolerance is eroding its social capital.
 A community that allows its buildings, roads, parks, power facilities, water
facilities, and waste processing capability to decay is eroding its built capital.
Additionally, a community that is creating built capital without considering the
future maintenance of that capital is setting itself up for eventual decay.

So, in the context of sustainability, carrying capacity is the size of the population that
can be supported indefinitely upon the available resources and services of supporting
natural, social, human, and built capital.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development is an organizing principle for human life on a finite planet. It

posits a desirable future state for human societies in which living conditions and
resource-use meet human needs without undermining the sustainability of natural
systems and the environment, so that future generations may also meet their needs.

Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural
systems with the social and economic challenges faced by humanity. As early as the
1970s, 'sustainability' was employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic
ecological support systems." Scientists in many fields have pointed to The Limits to
Growth, and economists have presented alternatives, for example a 'steady state
economy', to address concerns over the impacts of expanding human development on
the planet.

The term 'sustainable development' rose to significance after it was used by the
Brundtland Commission in its 1987 report Our Common Future. In the report, the
commission coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable
development: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The concept of sustainable development has in the past most often been broken out
into three constituent domains: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and
social sustainability. However, many other possible ways to delineate the concept have
been suggested. For example, distinguishing the four domains of economic, ecological,
political and cultural sustainability. Other important sources refer to the fourth domain as
'institutional' or as 'good governance.'

ETHICS OF SUSTAINABILITY
Please refer to Paper by Bruce Jennings.

VISIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY

View/Create comment on this paragraphNEW YORK – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-

moon is mobilizing global action around the great challenge of our time: sustainable
development. It is a call that the world must heed.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphIt is no longer good enough for

economies simply to grow. We must also end extreme poverty, a goal within reach by
2030. We must manage the economy to protect rather than destroy the environment.
And we must promote a fairer distribution of prosperity, rather than a society divided
between the very rich and the very poor.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphWe use the term “sustainable

development” precisely to mean economic growth that ends extreme poverty, increases
social inclusion, and is environmentally healthy. Sadly, the world is way off track.
CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphMany poor countries’ economies are
not growing, and extreme poverty remains widespread. Humanity is dangerously
changing the climate, depleting freshwater supplies, and poisoning the air and oceans.
Most economies are becoming less fair as well, with widening gaps between the rich
and the poor. And violent conflict remains widespread, with the world’s poorest regions
the most vulnerable to outbreaks.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphWith these challenges in mind, world

leaders agreed last year at the Rio+20 Summit to adopt Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). The world’s governments asked the UN Secretary-General to coordinate
the preparation of these goals by the year 2015, in order to ensure a seamless
transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire that year. A
crucial meeting of the UN General Assembly will take place in late September for this
purpose.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has put into motion several high-level processes to
help devise the SDGs that will have maximum benefit for humanity during the years
2015-2030. First, the UN itself is leading a large outreach effort to generate global
discussion. Second, intensive intergovernmental negotiations, as called for by the
Rio+20 Summit, are being held. Third, a High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons has
recently issued its report.

Finally, I am pleased and honored to be part of a new “knowledge network,” the

Sustainable Development Solutions Network, created by Ban to bring together
scientists, technologists, businesses, and development specialists from all regions of
the world. The SDSN’s Leadership Council consists of dozens of top global thinkers and
development leaders from rich and poor countries alike.

The SDSN Leadership Council has now delivered to the UN Secretary-General a new
report, “An Action Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The agenda has already
received thousands of comments online from around the world, and we eagerly invite
further global discussion of it, especially from the world’s young people. This report,
after all, is about their future!

In its report, the SDSN has identified ten high-priority goals for sustainable
development:

1. End extreme poverty and hunger;

2. Achieve development and prosperity for all without ruining the environment;
3. Ensure learning for all children and youth;
4. Achieve gender equality and reduce inequalities;
5. Achieve health and well-being at all ages;
6. Increase agricultural production in an environmentally sustainable manner,
thereby achieving food security and rural prosperity;
7. Make cities productive and environmentally sustainable;
8. Curb human-induced climate change with sustainable energy;
 9. Protect ecosystems and ensure sound management of natural resources;
10. Improve governance and align business behavior with all of the goals.

The idea behind these priorities is to combine the four key dimensions of sustainable
development: economic growth (including ending poverty), social inclusion, a healthy
natural environment, and good governance (including peace). They can thus form the
basis for the SDGs that would apply to all countries from 2015 to 2030.

Well-crafted SDGs will help to guide the public’s understanding of complex sustainable-
development challenges, inspire public and private action, promote integrated thinking,
and foster accountability. Children everywhere should learn the SDGs as a way to
understand the challenges that they will confront as adults.

The SDGs will be complementary to the tools of international law, such as global
treaties and conventions, by providing a shared normative framework. They will also
mobilize governments and the international system to strengthen measurement and
monitoring for sustainable development.

The world has at its disposal the tools to end extreme poverty in all its forms by the year
2030 and to address the sustainable-development challenges that we all face. With
rising incomes and unprecedented scientific and technological progress, rapid positive
change on the required scale is feasible. Ours can be the generation that ends extreme
poverty, ensures that all people are treated equally, and eliminates, once and for all, the
dangerous climate risks facing our planet – but only if the world mobilizes around a
shared agenda for sustainable development and ambitious, time-bound SDGs.