Sustainable communities in brief

The concept of a “sustainable community” does not describe just one type of neighborhood,
town, city or region. Activities that the environment can sustain and that citizens want and can
afford may be quite different from community to community. Rather than being a fixed thing,
a sustainable community is continually adjusting to meet the social and economic needs of its
residents while preserving the environment’s ability to support it.
1. A sustainable community uses its resources to meet current needs while ensuring that
adequate resources are available for future generations.
2. It seeks a better quality of life for all its residents while maintaining nature’s ability to
function over time by minimizing waste, preventing pollution, promoting efficiency and
developing local resources to revitalize the local economy.
3. Decision-making in a sustainable community stems from a rich civic life and shared
information among community members. A sustainable community resembles a living
system in which human, natural and economic elements are interdependent and
draw strength from each other.
PREPARED BY : PROF.D.V.PATEL

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) (2012) sees a
sustainable community as one that is economically,
environmentally and socially healthy and resilient.
The ISC (2012) states that a sustainable community “meets
challenges through integrated solutions rather than through
fragmented approaches that meet one of those goals at the expense of
the others”.
Bridger & Luloff (1999:381) state that the “definitions of
sustainable community development stress the importance of
striking a balance between environmental concerns and
development objectives while simultaneously enhancing local
social relationships”.

•Upgrading the efficiency of energy use in buildings, products, and transportation systems
•Adopting and implementing sustainable forestry, fisheries, soil, and watershed management
practices
•Expanded delivery and use of information technologies
•Sustainable tourism activities centered around areas of environmental, cultural, and historic
significance
•Recycling and remanufacturing of solid and hazardous waste into marketable products
•Accelerated and expanded development of marine and freshwater aquaculture
•Adding value to fish, agricultural, and forest products
•Developing, manufacturing, and marketing products, services, and technologies that reduce
environmental burdens
•Designing energy-efficient and people-friendly cities
Achieving sustainable community development means emphasizing sustainable employment and
economic demand management (EDM).
Potentially significant employment opportunities, consistent with more sustainable patterns of
development, exist in many economic sectors. Redesigned and improved infrastructure, knowledge-based
services, environmental technologies, improved management and use of natural resources, and tourism are
all rich areas for private sector investment, supportive government policies, and expanded training. Some
of the most promising employment opportunities include:

Crisis Theory: Explains the different phases community experiences
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
DECISION
MAKING/CRISIS
MAKING
OUTCOME/RESULT EVALUATION
CAPABILITY OF WELL -BEING

Economic Sphere
The Economic sphere contains financial capital such as shares, bonds and banknotes. Infrastructure such
as buildings, factories, technology, transport are mobilized by economic actors such as businesses and
production companies to produce goods and services. The economic sphere supports economic activity
of the community.
Environmental Sphere
The environmental sphere can be defined by the presence of a natural or physical environment. The
environmental sphere comprises of natural capital which is ‘natural resources (energy and matter) and
processes needed by organizations to produce goods and services’. (nweni) Similarly, through
infrastructure such as transport and manufacturing companies, natural resources are converted into
energy sources and provide goods and services that sustain the survival of communities.
Social Sphere
The social sphere is largely concerned with human capital and infrastructure and actors constantly seek
to develop human capital so as to enhance the well-being of the individual in the community. Human
capital incorporates the health, knowledge, skills, intellectual output, motivation and capacity for
relationships of the individual. It is developed through infrastructure that exist in the form of healthcare,
education and social organizations. Actors in this sphere such as schools, civil organizations and human
units such as families play a crucial role in transforming human capital into a viable contribution
towards the development of the community.

The figure below indicates three parties who
are consumers of the resource which is a plate
of noodles placed in the center. A has a plate an
chopsticks and is able to gain access to the
noodles. Similarly B, also has a plate and
chopsticks to assess the noodles. C is a
bystander who is not consuming the noodles at
the moment but may do so at some point. A
reflects a community that has limited options.
B on the other hand, possesses alternatives and
therefore is not heavily reliant on the supply of
noodles. The absence of alternatives propels A
to consume a larger amount of noodles than B.
C, the bystander is reflective of the future
generation that is yet to consume the resources.
It is clear from this illustration that compared
to A, B would be able to leave behind noodles
for C’s consumption. Therefore, a sustainable
community that seeks alternatives ensures that
its reliance on resources are well-managed.
This enables it to preserve resources for its
future generations.
NOODLE THEORY

Five dimensions of sustainable community development.

The seven key areas of
sustainable cities

Challenges in realizing sustainable community development
Integration
• Cities are often areas of inequality, segregation and exclusion. Despite government's best efforts the housing
and service interventions for the poor have continued to perpetuate the apartheid urban form.
• The result has been the development of large dormitory settlements of low-cost houses on the urban periphery
and far from economic opportunities.
• The consequence is that the people get trapped in poverty and are subject to long-term social costs.
Scale
• Projects for sustainable communities often involve individual initiatives that are geographically bounded. This
means that they rarely impact municipal systems as a whole. These projects often lack the capacity to link the
municipal planning decisions to the wider landscape (Ling et al, 2009:230).
• Another challenge is that the scale that is planned for is often too large. It is helpful to plan in terms of
neighbourhoods, which is a “residential or mixed use area around which people can conveniently walk”.
(Smith, 2006) The scale of planning should be driven by pedestrian access to promote sustainability.
Community development projects are often planned on a larger scale that does not take walking distance and
neighbourhood boundaries into consideration. Campbell (1996:20) says that it is also believed that the
inhabitants of small-scale regions will be more aware of the causes and effects of their environmental actions
than residents of larger communities.
• Policies are developed at national level that impact upon all other level of human settlements. These policies
have to be directly aimed at promoting sustainable community development in order to be effective.PREPARED BY : PROF.D.V.PATEL

Governance
• Government structures often do not embrace sustainable development as a guiding planning principle. This
means that the implementations of sustainability objectives often become difficult and that results in
ineffectiveness. Even the government sectors that have embraced these principles have had considerable
difficulty in translating sustainability strategies into practice.
• Local government rarely incorporates a sustainability ethos into their planning until forced to.
• Local government often lacks the capacity to implement sustainability initiatives effectively. Building
capacity at all levels of government as well as promoting good governance practices within and between
spheres of government is crucial.
• Political corruption acts as a big deterrent in realizing sustainable communities. The misappropriation of
funds results in reduced effectiveness of community development initiatives.
Inclusion of the community
• Sustainable community development can only be successful if community engagement is assured. Education
and training should be given to the community to educate them on their options; this will also increase
public awareness. Government should provide and share information at all stages of development. A
community should also be empowered to identify what they see as sustainability and these viewpoints
should be included in the decision making process.
• Inclusion also means planning for the bigger picture and defining long term goals, rather than a plan that
reflects a short term agenda with poor attention to pluralism.
Western concepts and methodologies of development

Integrated Community
Sustainability Plan
process outline

Sustainable Design Principles
Our current age sees everything as an object of manufacture, as something
which can be got hold of and improved, or altered,
to produce better or more effective outcomes. This is our present fate,
especially in the West, to understand all things in this way.”
Laurence Paul Hemming in Worship as Revelation burns &
oates, 2008, page 10.
So, we seek to improve and alter, even disrupt .
We love to design and redesign.
Buzz words today are innovation and disruption, both considered as positive.
The question is:
How can we design and redesign responsibility?
What should be the guiding principles? PREPARED BY : PROF.D.V.PATEL

Underlying principle
We don’t design for the sake of designing. We design for a purpose:
-To meet a need in a new way, in a better way,
-To achieve a goal,
-To make a statement.
This holds true regardless of the size of what is being designed, from a bicycle shed to
an entire city, from a spoon to a cell phone.
“If you cannot measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Lord Kelvin
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Albert Einstein
Conclusions:
-We need to be quantitative → engineering sciences
-We need to think creatively → some art involved
The Science and Art of Sustainable Design! PREPARED BY : PROF.D.V.PATEL

Principles of Sustainable Design
according to Jason F. McLennan, “The Philosophy of Sustainable Design”, 2004
1. Learning from natural systems (Biomimicry Principle)
2. Respect for energy & natural resources (Conservation Principle)
3.Respect for people (Human Vitality Principle)
4.Respect for place (Ecosystem Principle)
5.Respect for future (“Seven Generations” Principle)
6.Systems thinking (Holistic Principle)

Respect for Place, cont’d
(Ecosystem Principle)
Other examples of symbiosis with the local environment, this time expressed in the building’s exterior shape…
Kieran Timberlake's Loblolly House:
Positioned between a dense grove of loblolly
pines and a lush foreground of saltmeadow
cordgrass along the Chesapeake Bay, this house
echoes the elements of trees, tall grasses, the
sea, the horizon, the sky and the western sun
that characterize the place.
A church amidst trees
The interior of this church was designed to blend with its
exterior, forcing occupants to be mindful of their
context. An idea expressed here is a religious one:
Thanksgiving to God (inside) for his creation
(outside).

Inuits’ winter igloo:
Use of local and renewable material.
Spherical shape to maximize volume to
surface ratio (= minimization of heat loss).
Double use of material for structure (strength)
and cover
Mosque of Bougouni (circa1890) in Mali:
Use of ostrich eggs – symbolic of purity and
fertility –
both as a decoration and as protection against
heavy rain. Thick walls and small windows to
stay cool inside.

Example of working with nature in a very tangible way: Living bridges in Meghalaya, India

Sustainable communities in brief

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