Sustainable urban design in China

Abstract

What constitutes sustainable architecture? Clearly, this is a question very much in vogue nowadays, and contemporary responses have been framed for the most part by topics such as new building technologies, energy conservation, climatically and environmentally responsive design, recyclable materials, and so on. Though sustainable architecture must certainly be about many, if not all of these things, my thesis proposes a much more familiar architectural response. Namely, I argue that the design of spaces that facilitate and promote communities is not only a necessary condition for a sustainable architecture, it is the necessary pre-condition. How does an architecture facilitate and promote communities? I have chosen the problem of housing as the vehicle to answer this question, because I believe one's living arrangement ought to be a critical opportunity for community life. To take advantage of this opportunity, I have tried to provide for variety and flexibility in public spaces, because these contribute directly to the viability and longevity of any community. I have tried to think of ways that architecture can actually give people something to do, activities that can be shared, perhaps even by cross-sections of society that do not typically have much to do with one another, because such successful collaboration is essential for the vitality of any community. And I have tried to strike a realistic balance between the day-to-day demands of contemporary lifestyles and the long term goals for a globally sustainable environment, because communities can best be expected to thrive when the needs of both the present and future generations are met.