Form of Social sustainability

Abstract

William McDonough brought up in his book, Cradle to Cradle the idea to design for the “safety and well being of all children of all species for all time.” In the book, McDonough and his co-author, Michael Braungart, focus mainly on chemical engineering and architectural practices. While admirable and valuable in those fields, it is not enough. In order to obtain any kind of environmental sustainability this world must also strive for social and economic sustainability. These forms of sustainability create positive feedback loops that ensure economical solutions for health and happiness of all people. The architectural and city planning professions have become increasingly aware of how the post WWII design decisions have negatively impacted every class of citizens of America. These design decisions focused on separation of land use, the introduction of rural design principles into our cities and a total dedication to the personal automobile. The practices that have spawned from these design decisions have passed the point of merely harming ourselves to harming the environment, economy and other individuals. The solution to these flawed design decisions cannot be solved entirely through the change in components or materials. There must be attention paid to the form our built environment has taken and move toward the pre-war models. Through insights and design principles from people like Jane Jacobs, Wendell Berry and Andres Duany, a form-based design focused around agriculture in devastated post-industrial cities can create vibrant dense neighborhoods with employment and food security.