Because of the profound effects of the built environment on the availability of natural resources for future generations, those involved with designing, creating, operating, renovating, and demolishing human structures have a vital role to play in working to put society on a path toward sustainability.This volume presents the thinking of leading academics and professionals in planning, civil engineering, economics, ecology, architecture, landscape architecture, construction, and related fields who are seeking to discover ways of creating a more sustainable built environment. Contributors address the broad range of issues involved, offering both insights and practical examples. In the book: Stephen Kellert describes the scope of the looming ecological crisis Herman Daly explains the unsustainability of the world's economic system and the dangers inherent in the current movement toward globalization John Todd describes the evolution of wastewater processing systems inspired by natural systems John Tillman Lyle discusses the importance of landscape in the creation of the human environment Randall Arendt argues for a fundamental shift in land development patterns that would not only provide for more green space in new developments, but would also increase the profitability of developers and the quality of life for new home owners Thomas E. Graedel proposes the application of lessons learned from the emerging science of industrial ecology to the creation of ""green"" building. While the transition to sustainability will not be easy, natural systems provide abundant models of architecture, engineering, production, and waste conversion that can be used in rethinking the human habitat and its interconnections. This volume provides insights that can light the way to a new era in which a reshaped built environment will not only provide improved human living conditions, but will also protect and respect the earth's essential natural life-support systems and resources.
Foreword \ Alex Wilson Preface \ Charles J. Kibert
Chapter 1. Introduction \ Charles J. Kibert
PART I. Foundations Chapter 2. The Promises and Limits of Sustainability \ Charles J. Kibert Chapter 3. Ecological Challenge, Human Values of Nature, and Sustainability in the Built Environment \ Stephen R. Kellert Chapter 4. Environmental Ethics \ Sarah van Gelder Chapter 5. Uneconomic Growth and the Built Environment: In Theory and in Fact \ Herman E. Daly
PART II. Content Chapter 6. Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies \ Stephen J. Strong Chapter 7. Environmentally Responsible Building Materials Selection \ Nadav Malin Chapter 8. Ecological Design, Living Machines, and the Purification of Waters \ John Todd Chapter 9. Landscape: Source of Life or Liability \ John Tillman Lyle Chapter 10. Construction and Demolition Waste: Innovative Assessment and Management \ Peter Yost
PART III. Process Chapter 11. Building Values \ Gail A. Lindsey Chapter 12. Architecture as Pedagogy \ David Orr Chapter 13. Biourbanism and Sustainable Urban Planning \ Daniel Williams Chapter 14. Creating Greener Communities Through Conservation Subdivision Design \ Randall Arendt Chapter 15. Environmentally Superior Buildings from Birth to Death \ Thomas E. Graedel Chapter 16. Environmental Performance of Buildings: Setting Goals, Offering Guidance, and Assessing Progress \ Raymond J. Cole Chapter 17. The Chicago Brownfields Initiative \ William C. Trumbull Chapter 18. Sustainable New Towns and Industrial Ecology \ Ernest A. Lowe