Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Sustainability and Autodependency Norman W. Garrick Lecture 8 CE 4710/5710 What is Sustainability? Sustainability is the stewardship of natural and human-made resources so that the quality of living and the health of our cities, countryside and open space do not deteriorate from one generation to the next Cervero, The Transit Metropolis: Transit and the Changing World Talking the Talk Politicians in Jamaica and many other third world countries are very aware of the need to ‘talk’ sustainability but the policies often don’t add up to changes that support environmental sustainability. Environmental and health sustainability is often compromised in the interest of economic growth. The situation in the USA is slightly different – often technological fixes are offered up as the solution that will cause us to achieve environmental health without changing any of the economic or social issues that impact sustainability So how do we convert the seemingly vague concept of sustainability into a concrete framework for guiding policy and design? The Three-Legged Stool The common model of sustainability is made up of a triad of economic, social, and environmental sustainability Sustainability The Problem with the Three-legged Stool Model The three-legged stool model does not help us address seemingly hard questions like • How do we improve people’s quality of life without necessarily increasing consumption to levels that might cause environmental degradation? • Can we have a sustainable economy without the need for constantly increasing levels of consumption? • Can we satisfy people’s desire for access without environmentally damaging levels of mobility? The Starting Place for Understanding Sustainability Source: http://www.spacetoday.org/images/SolSys/Earth/EarthBlueMarbleWestTerra.jpg Why Protecting the Biosphere is the Bottom-line for Sustainability We only have the one biosphere – this biosphere consists of natural ecosystems at different scales. It is a closed system with only one energy input and no output for waste Human activities have a big impact on the biosphere We need to re-structure these activities so that we can satisfy our needs and desires without continuing to cause harm to the biosphere The Three-Legged Stool Sustainability The Problem with the Three-Legged Stool The triad model of sustainability is considered by some to be flawed because it does not explicitly recognize that environmental sustainability requires changes to social and economic institutions – instead, it talks about balance It is universally acknowledged that the three dimensions of sustainability - environmental, social and economic – are a useful and valid way of conceptualizing this issue What is in dispute is the order in which they are considered. The three-legged stool does not imply any order or priority The Appropriate Order for the Three Domains The important shift is to recognize that the economy is the creation of society, and not the other way around. The economy is thus framed by the social context in which it occurs. Further, both society and the economy operate within the context of a natural environment of limited capacity. This lead to the nested box model of sustainability in which the order of priority is environment, social, and economy sustainability Environment Society Economy (LOW AND GLEESON 2003, HART 2006) Interpreting the Nested Box Model of Sustainability It is important not to take this model to mean that the economy, or economic considerations, are not important Rather it should be interpreted as saying that growth should serve the interest of the society and be environmentally sustainable. The most extreme examples of economic growth without social or environmental sustainability can be found in many “oil rich” countries around the world. The Nested box model also contains echoes of Littman's point about striving for ‘development’ not just ‘growth’ From an article by McGranahan and Satterthwaite in Pugh, Sustainable Cities in Developing Countries, Earthscan, pg. 73-87 Ref: Low and Gleeson, Making Urban Transportation Sustainable, Palgrave MacMillan, pg. 25 - 41. Biloxi c2004 Roads Slated for Expansion Biloxi 2025 With Road Expansion 8 lanes 6 lanes 5 lanes 4 lanes Gulfport c2004 Roads Slated for Expansion Gulfport 2025 With Road Expansion 8 lanes 6 lanes 5 lanes 4 lanes 22000 18000 14000 USA Mississippi 10000 6000 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Mississpippi USA The Netherlands 25 20 15 10 5 0 Mississpippi USA The Netherlands Level 1 3 Domains Environment Society Level 2 12 Elements (Goals) 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 07 Level 3 19 Indicators ** * * ** ** ** ** ** Economy * 09 10 11 12 * * * Level 4 22 Variables Each indicator is measured by one or more variables * 34 35 36 Best Worst Dist. of Columbia 17.4% Mississippi 44.2% Alaska 22.1% Wyoming 38.2% New York 22.6% Alabama 38.1% Connecticut 22.7% Montana 38.0% Massachusetts 22.8% Kentucky 37.7% Best Worst Oregon 6.7 Michigan 0.3 Indiana 4.7 Mississippi 0.4 Dist. of Columbia 3.9 Alaska 0.5 Massachusetts 3.8 Louisiana 0.7 South Dakota 3.4 Hawaii 0.7 Connecticut: Ranked 19th, 23 % Growth in GDP, 12% Growth in VMT Best Worst New York 12.5% Mississippi 45.4% Washington 13.4% Montana 40.8% Massachusetts 14.1% Rhode Island 40.3% Virginia 14.1% North Dakota 37.3% California 15.1% South Carolina 37.1% Connecticut: Ranked 40th, 32.9 % Federal Sources Best Worst Dist. of Columbia 0.2% Alaska 6.0% New York 1.1% Mississippi 4.5% Connecticut 1.4% Montana 4.0% Delaware 1.4% Wyoming 3.9% Rhode Island 1.5% North Dakota 3.8% Percentage spent on transportation petroleum shown Best Worst Dist. of Columbia 90 Mississippi 7 New York 75 Montana 21 Massachusetts 73 Arkansas 28 Oregon 65 Wyoming 29 Washington 65 South Carolina 29 Connecticut: Ranked 16th, Score 55 43