Sustainability???

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  • February 22, 2005 at 10:49 pm #707677
    -Donnacha-
    Participant

    Can one of you more enlightened folk shed some light on the precise meaning of this word. It seems to banded about quite a lot in relation to conservation of old buildings & one off housing in the countyside.
    For example, when someone (we all know who) says that one off housing is not sustainable – what exactly is meant?
    From dictionary.com sustainable means:

    To keep in existence; maintain.
    To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for.
    To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.
    To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage.
    To bear up under; withstand: can’t sustain the blistering heat.
    To experience or suffer: sustained a fatal injury.
    To affirm the validity of: The judge has sustained the prosecutor’s objection.
    To prove or corroborate; confirm.
    To keep up (a joke or assumed role, for example) competently.

    So, in relation to the above example what exactly is not being sustained. Is it the fact that a rural community cannot sustain another one off house? If so why do the users of these planning buzzwords not say that – as opposed to simply (yet for me confusingly) saying that “one off housing is not sustaiable” or “use timber sliding sash windows when replacing windows in an old building for sustainability”.

    Am I just failing to grasp the english language?

    February 22, 2005 at 11:32 pm #751242
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Bloke, I think you have a point about the way it is thrown around and overused. As a concept it goes back to the late 1980s. It is defined by the UN as: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

    Here is a link to Agenda 21

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21toc.htm

    or more particularly in relation to planning:

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter7.htm

    phil

    February 23, 2005 at 4:38 pm #751243
    Mob79
    Participant

    Inefficient, Car dependent, low density – can’t be served by public transport, ugly, wasteful, not thought through! can’t keep going about things as we do……..

    February 24, 2005 at 5:45 pm #751244
    Lotts
    Participant

    Sustainable development – ability to continue developing and building at at least the same rate we are doing so. To sustain the number of jobs in construction industry and to sustain the growth in profitability of development.

    This is the Bertie definition that we use in this country. 😉

    March 9, 2005 at 12:52 am #751245
    Justin Washtell
    Participant

    Econopulence

    noun:
    1) “Luxurious living at very little financial or environmental cost.”
    2) “Maximum return from minimal investment.”

    See also: sustainability, opulence, economy.

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