Architectural & Social Sustainability - Essay Example

?Introduction In the past two decades the scholars and environmentalists have been severely concerned about the environmental degradation and the damage caused to the biosphere. The rapid economic growth of the countries has been coupled with the rise in consumption and the subsequent rise in the productive capacity of the industries. However this has led to immense destruction of natural resources. It has raised concern for future the course of development. According to the Brundtland Report, sustainable development is ensuring the present rate of development without any compromise on the development capacity of the future (Elliot, 2006, pp. 7- 10). The pursuit of sustainable development has changed the nature of operation in all the fields. Every industry is trying to adopt measures that ensure the sustainability. All the scholars and experts have emphasized on a holistic approach towards sustainable development with the participation of the different stakeholders. Even in the construction industry there has been a change of paradigm in the way designs are made. One such change is the more and more participation of the communities at the various stages of the project. Community design is an important phenomenon. The realization that ill-managed resources have a huge environmental impact has led to the involvement of the community. Many of the public institutions require the engagement of the neighborhood community in designing their new buildings. Robert Goodman first advocated the participation of the community in the architectural process. This also takes care of a diverse number of issues like better management of resources, the various neighborhood problems that may arise later and sustainable development. Architectural designs in the recent times have shown environmental consciousness and community awareness to a large extent. The architects of the modern times need to be morally and ethically concerned and the effect of their work must reach beyond the domain of their building to the larger community and the neighborhood environment. Sustainability should be adopted as an objective in the designing of all buildings and there are several benefits of taking inputs and ideas from the community before a project is commenced. The community around the site of construction has a better knowledge of the neighborhood. Therefore their participation should be made an integral process of all construction activities. The incorporation of the citizens, residents and the community in the building process promotes the ecological concern as well as helps in binding the ties of the community. It helps to strengthen and promote a sustainable society and also create a healthy environment for the neighborhood. Therefore the role of the community should not be restricted to the suggestions and improvements for the neighborhoods. The agenda of the architect should be to create an environmentally sustainable building as well as empower the owners and the community. In this regards creating a sustainable building for the community and the involvement of all the stakeholders presents a new challenge in the profession of the modern day architect. Therefore the architects must provide significant efforts to ensure that there is active and meaningful participation from all the members of the community (Sanoff, 2000, pp 2-3; Fox, 2000, pp. 102-104). The University of Central Lancashire has faced a significant amount of controversy for the construction of a new campus building. The community has criticized them for their decision on the grounds of more community participation in the project. The different policies on public participation require more involvement of the public as an integral requirement for construction projects. The controversy has even attracted the attention of the press. The university had traditionally shared a good relationship with the community. However the recent developments have destroyed the image of the university considerably and the relationship with the community has also been strained. The paper addresses the problem and tries to look at methods that can increase the community’s involvement in the project. Policy on Community Participation The United Kingdom government has recognized the importance of the participation of community as an integral part of building process and has formulated policies to promote the cause. The benefits of community participation are immense. Greg Clark, an MP and minister of state cited an example to demonstrate the benefit of community participation in neighborhood development. In 1980 a local shop was shut in Ascott-Under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire. In 2002 a developer wanted to do a construction business in a farm in the locality. The community asked the developer to rebuild the shop in return for their support for the development. In this way the community benefited from the development and the developer also made his contributions toward the community (Participation in Planning). The government United Kingdom has acknowledged the role of community in all projects in their neighborhood. Therefore they have formed acts and regulations to govern the all the projects and ensure that the developers coordinate and cooperate with the locals. One significant act in this respect is the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act of 2004. This law requires the local authorities to come up with a statement of community involvement. This statement will clearly define the role of the community in the upcoming project. The role of the community should not be passive. It should also continue over the whole period of development. The act will make the developers collaborate with the local communities for the purpose of development (Statement of Community Involvement n.d.). The Local Development Framework (LDF) gives a comprehensive structure to the nature of participation of the community required by the government. It clearly defines the purpose, scope and the responsibilities of the different players who hold a stake in the development. This framework has elaborate plans on the community architecture and sustainable development. There are clauses like developing the biodiversity of the locality and ensuring architectural designs that promote the safety of the community. There are also guides on designing tall constructions. The West Lancashire Community Involvement requires that all the stakeholders of the community are involved in the preparation of the Local Development Framework. They have multiple consultation stages. This would ensure that the local planning authorities interact and obtain inputs from the community and other stakeholders more often (Statement of Community Involvement, n.d.; Supplementary Planning Document, n.d.). The Sustainable Communities Act of 2007 also acknowledges the importance of empowering the community and voicing their opinion in political and civic decision making process to promote sustainability. In this Act significant importance has been given to the 'power of well-being' of a council. The council can give highest priority to the policy that promotes the wellbeing of the region if it satisfies some other condition. The underlying principle of this act is that the locals have the best knowledge about the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the region. Therefore they have been empowered by this act (Sustainable Communities Act 2007: A Guide, 2006). The power in the hands of the local communities and council was further reinforced by the Localism Bill of December 13th, 2010 (The Localism Bill, n.d.). Apart from the above states national policies there are some other regional policies. The Policy D1 gives the design criteria that the buildings should have parity with the local environment including the height, prevalent materials, and design of the neighboring buildings. The Policy D7 gives the layout of the new project. It should have distinct private and public space, should not affect the local climatic condition, and give emphasis on energy conservation. The Policy G3 states that the various institutions including the educational ones have to protect the green space from building projects (Preston City Council, n.d. p 31, Preston Local Plan, n.d.). Guidance Principle Community participation is an important aspect of sustainable architectural design. These sustainable architectural designs involve the community to design towns and develop the community well-being. There are several advantages of involving the community. However comprehensive strategies and guidelines must be constructed for taking consultation from the community. There are several strategies that are available for involving the communities for developments. Some of the foremost conditions for involving the community in a project are to clearly specify the nature of the project, its relevance, and context. The second important thing is to specify the members of the community who needs to be included and who should be excluded from the project. The process should involve identifying the key decisions in which the community should be involved. The purpose is to clearly set the role and scope of the community involvement. The opportunity for involvement is also a key factor that should be considered. For this reason the objective, the principle and the standard of participation of the people should be set. Moreover, the goal of the project should be clear in the minds of all the stakeholders and the expected benefit and risk should also be measured. Representation by the community should be considered closely. Factors that should be primarily considered are how to involve the excluded members, the existing methods and what method of representation should be adopted by the stakeholders. The developer should also have a prior idea about the process and material of development before he involves the community. The parts of the development that requires consultation of the locals is an important aspect an architect should consider. The developer should also have some idea about communicating and marketing the outcome of the community involvement. Lastly there should be a clear idea about monitoring, evaluating, changing and revising the strategy according to requirement (Sassi, 2006, pp. 54-63, Office of Intergovernmental and Public Accountability, n.d.). To attract the community for involvement, the people should be assured of the integral part they can play in the development process. There can also be a definite protocol like giving a patience hearing to everyone’s ideas. The protocol can be documented in the strategy. There also needs to be a definite timeframe. Excess delay on deliberation can cause rise in cost for the project. The involvement of the public should be encouraged. However if they fail to come up with a possible solution within a deadline, the project should be implemented according to initial plans (Sassi, 2006, pp. 54-63). Critical Appraisal The University of Central Lancashire will have to face considerable harm to their image due to a lack of participation of the community. Moreover the university will also cease to play a role in the development of the community. This can even affect the sustainability of the project. The community decision can have considerable effect on sustainable development. There are various ways to involve the community in the process of development. Involving them at the earliest stage increases the chance of a successful outcome as well as helps in constructing a long-term healthy relation with the community. Moreover, the participation of the community in the decision making process of a project that will affect their lives is a necessary step for sustainable development. Sustainable development is a holistic process by which involvement of the people in the project gives them a sense of belonging and ownership. The process should not be limited to only informing the group but their eager participation at all stages of development. An interesting case that can be cited is the project for visitor centre at Mutitjulu, Australia in 1990 by architect Gregory Burges. The architects designed the buildings in collaboration with the locals. At all stages of development they consulted with the local community. They used paintings by local, their stories, their ideas, and the laws that bind the society. As a result the visitor centre was successful in representing the true heritage of the place and also caused minimum destruction at the site (Sassi, 2006, pp. 54- 63). The University also needs to involve the communities. They need to draw up an LDF clearly stating the initial scope and purpose of the community involvement. Then the university should encourage the active participation of the community according to the framework. The University should also consider the different key issues of public/community participation for sustainability should be considered. The issues are proper representation from the community to involve all the excluded members of the society, consulting the members from time to time regarding all the different steps of designing the project. The university architects also need to ensure the active participation of all the representatives. The main participants in this project could be the architects on behalf of the university, the community groups and the local council, the surveyors and the other stakeholders. A significant issue therefore, is how to involve the community and at what role. Sassi (2006, p 54- 63) gives us some of the ways to encourage community participation. The University can spread the message of public participation with the help of the local press. In this way they can create awareness about their intention and also recover their lost reputation. Events like open days or exhibitions is another great way to interact with the public. In this way the University can create awareness as well as address the questions and issues of the public. It will also help to bring the community and the developers together. Through informal discussion sessions the developers can address the concern of the public and get their support for the project. If the community comprises of a large number of people, questionnaires will help to understand the ideas and concern of the people. Workshops can be organized for the people. These workshops will also help to raise the eagerness of the people to participate. Action plans for a particular development can also be developed by consulting the public. A consensus decision making practice can be adopted by the University. The designers can collaborate with the locals to discuss and come up with a project design that has received consensus from all the stakeholders (Sassi, 2006, p 54- 63; CABE, n.d.). Action Plan In this final section of the report we try to draw up a process that can be enforced by the university to address the concern of the public. The foremost concern of the University is to make the public aware and encourage their participation in the campus building process. For that purpose the University can take help of the local media. On one hand this will help inform a wide range of people about the intentions of the university and on the other hand it will help them to mend their tarnished image. The University can also spread leaflets. However the leaflets must be lucid, to the point and understandable by everyone. Exhibitions and public meetings can also be conducted to explain the technical problems of the issue to the public. This well help the interaction between the concerned public and the well- briefed staffs. After getting the people together, a proper decision making analysis should be done. The agendas of the collaboration should be specified. The internal and external stakeholders and the decision makers are to be identified. However some important roles need to be assigned. There should be a regulator of the discussions, the active participants, a technical reviewer representing the architects and the observers and the commentators are to be identified. Some assessment regarding the most controversial issues, the most important stakeholders and the constraints including the institutional ones in their decision making process needs to be identified. Moreover, the issues should be narrowed down to the extent that the answers are available in affirmative or negative. Subjectivity in decision making process should be avoided. To have a proper deadline a schedule needs to be drawn up. The organization should also play an integral role in the decision making process. They should be present in the discussions and try to be informed and influence the decision. Agreement should be reached through discussion and negotiation. The funding of the project will come from the government. Before implementation the plan should be written down elaborately. This will help the university to contribute to the sustainable development of the society through their new campus and also rebuild their relationship with the community (Office of Intergovernmental and Public Accountability, n.d.; CABE, n.d.). References 1. CABE (n.d.), Community-led Spaces, Web Archives, available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http://www.cabe.org.uk/masterplans/planning-community-involvement/prepare 2. Elliot, J.A. (2006), An Introduction to Sustainable Development, UK, Routledge. (2006)http://books.google.co.in/books?id=vKn9PrrCZsUC&pg=PA7&dq=brundtland+report+summary,+sustainable+development&hl=en&ei=QZbfTcncM4fJrAedur2NDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=brundtland%20report%20summary%2C%20sustainable%20development&f=false 3. Fox, W. (2000), Ethics and the Built Environment, London: Routledge. 4. Office of Intergovernmental and Public Accountability (EM-22), (n.d.), How to Design A Public Participation Program, Cooperative Conservation, available at: http://cooperativeconservation.gov/get-involved/DOEHowtoGuide.pdf (accessed on June 1, 2011). 5. Preston City Council (n.d.), Annual Monitoring Report, NWRIU, available at: http://www.nwriu.co.uk/PDF/Preston_AMR_2009.pdf 6. Preston Local Plan (n.d.), Cartoplus, available at: http://www.cartoplus.co.uk/preston/text/15_design.html 7. Sanoff, H. (2000) Community Participation methods In design and planning, New York, John Wiley and Sons. 8. Sassi, P. (2006), Strategies for Sustainable Architecture, UK, Taylor & Francis 9. Statement of Community Involvement (n.d.), Mid Sussex District Council, available at: http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/Nimoi/sites/msdcpublic/resources/SCI_LDFmay06.pdf 10. Statement of Community Involvement (February, 2007), West Lancashire District Council, available at: http://www.westlancsdc.gov.uk/pdf/SCI-Submission-Version.pdf 11. Supplementary Planning Document (n.d.), Leeds City Council, available at: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Business/Planning/Local_development_framework/Supplementary_planning_documents__new_(LDF).aspx 12. Sustainable Communities Act 2007: A Guide (February, 2008), Communities and Local Government, available at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/681480.pdf 13. The Localism Bill (n.d.), Communities and Local Government, available at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/decentralisation/localismbill/ Read More