Sl Wk5 Final

Week 5 Final Paper

Sustainable Planning and Development

Yvette Tait

ENV 230

Steven Luecke

11/30/2010 – 01/17/2011

Abstract

Approximately 3.3 billion people live in urban environments this estimated to increase to 5 billion by 2030. Moreover, a global population predicted to peak at around 9 billion mid-century. The do urban world forms many of the conditions in the cities we inhabit having emerged from the industrial era, and is promoted and maintained through an industrial and utilitarian mode of education. We are no longer predominantly rural but predominantly urban.

We claim to be an industrial, human centric, urban species. This industrialization shapes our economies, our societies and our cultures, and its language of improvement and effectiveness largely determines how we collectively think and act. Its utility is showing signs of fatigue; with this rise in human population, we are witnessing an unprecedented collapse in our global ecosystem and dysfunction in our existing human systems of education, health, politics, economics, and agriculture.

The established capitalist model seems no longer sufficient to provide for a changing reality, it suggests that the way we relate to our world is outdated, destructive and unsustainable, while our solutions are predictable and short term, and pitifully selfish.

So what happens next? A narrative of despair or of hope? Is it the best of times, or is it the worst of times?

In this paper, the discussion will be about some possible ways for us to consider and learn how we can live more sustainably in our built landscapes and communities around the planet.

Every system is a collection of systems and the data it retrieves. Every time we fill out a Census form, register our vehicle(s), renew our drivers’ license, apply for a passport, and use a credit or debit card to make a purchase a plethora of information is collected. We have the potential to change the way we...