{"id":16756,"date":"2023-01-23T19:47:48","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T18:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenbuilt.dev.kodeks.no\/?p=16756"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:30:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:30:27","slug":"sustainable-buildings-are-for-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenbuilt.no\/en\/2023\/01\/23\/sustainable-buildings-are-for-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable buildings are for people"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: The Eco-city project 1996. <\/em>Credit is to<\/em> The Children\u2019s Parliament UK.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Architecture, culture and community<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editorial to the book: 100 SUSTAINABLE SCOTTISH BUILDINGS, 2017<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Chris Butters, GAIA International<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Just as society\u2019s goal is, in the words of the Bhutanese king, gross national happiness, so the ultimate goal of buildings is wellbeing. Architects have sometimes protested that if their buildings are beautiful, people will love and take care of them, and so that is \u201csustainable\u201d. That\u2019s not enough; there\u2019s no excuse today for buildings that are not both economically reasonable and ecologically sensitive as well.<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s famous biologist, planner and holistic thinker Patrick Geddes, virtually invented the credo of sustainable development with his triad of Place-Work-Folk; deriving from the natural sciences his insight into the intimate interrelationships between ecology, economy and people. What does sustainable design mean in terms of society and culture? It addresses the commonalities, and the uniqueness, of people; and their needs, and their dreams. And it must do so without – to rework the Brundtland phrase – reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs, and to dream.<\/p>\n

Triple context of time, place and person<\/h5>\n

To do this, architecture must respond to the triple context of time, place and person. Place is perhaps the easiest of these; it is what all ecological architecture tries to do, by a sensitive, elegant and efficient response to local environment, energy flows and resources. Adapting to time is less easy, for time is not only about durability, or about buildings which can adapt and age well; time is also about unknowns; about what future generations may find neither functional nor beautiful. Few of us today love the brutalist techno-optimism of post-war design, yet their makers followed, as we do, a sincere and positive intention. How well will some of these 100 Scottish buildings function, and be perceived, and loved, in 100 years\u2019 time? Only our descendants can answer that.<\/p>\n

Yet responding to people is even more challenging. It is firstly physiological: sustainable buildings must be healthy buildings. Beyond that, they must foster psychological and spiritual wellbeing. And beyond that again, buildings must respond to culture: not only for people in different countries but within the same country: young people or old people, poets or engineers, tenants or owners, perceive, relate to and use buildings very differently. Building is also a human process, not a noun but a verb; all building is both a social, an educational and indeed a political act. Planning, constructing and maintaining buildings either fosters confidence, identity, understanding and solidarity, or it doesn\u2019t. Participation is a key; it can\u2019t always be achieved, but where it can, it is the surest guarantor of long term sustainability.<\/p>\n

Community matters<\/h5>\n

Community matters. No mere slogan, community is our place in life. Our community may be ecological, and it may be rich, and it may even be beautiful, but if it is not happy, there\u2019s nothing. This, too, is the skill of sustainable planning and building – of placemaking. And for this, participation processes are not just the key, but the very doorway.<\/p>\n

The article continues after the videos from The Childrens Parliament in Scotland.
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