Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
disabled civil society.”
In this nature-culture divided world discussed
above, the “myth” around nature has been
turned into reality which is well illustrated by
our role of language. Nature in our current
predominant mindset is made in the image of a
commodity, a ‘natural resource’, underpinned
by a philosophical stance that views humans
as standing apart from the rest of the living
world. This is a good example of ‘shallow
ecology’ or ‘weak sustainability’ whereby only
instrumental, or ‘use’ value is ascribed to
nature. We need to be careful of our language
and careful not to be seduced by jargon
and slogans such as ‘eco-friendly’, ‘ethical
hunting’, ‘sustainable utilisation’, ‘downsizing’,
‘transparency’, ‘biodegradable’, and ‘growth’.
Jargon and slogans can illustrate the dilution
of the ‘sustainable development’ concept, i.e.
are we simply ‘sustaining development’ or
working towards sustainable development
“We are accustomed to thinking about the
Western cultural synthesis as a developmental
endpoint which points towards the control
of all natural forces by human decisions”
(O’Sullivan 2008, 132). The development
of modern Western science and expertise
is suffused by the underlying belief that all
forces can be contained and controlled by
scientific inquiry and technological advance. It
is critical to question some of our assumptions,
and some of the things that we think of as
normal. Edmund O’Sullivan (2008, 132) in
‘Re-enchantment of the natural world’ tells us
that it wasn’t always this way. Understanding
the historical roots of our dominant mode of
thinking allows us to see that this is not the
only way of thinking and, indeed, that we live
in a different historical moment with a different
challenge facing us. Instead of considering
ecological thinking as fringe or alternative
and reductive scientific economic thinking as
normal, we should ask which type of thinking
or worldview is best suited to the challenges
we face. Is it normal to face a global ecological
crisis in a divide and conquer (reductive)
way while separately treating a global crisis
of human rights, of increased militarisation
Questions of sustainability have in general
become pertinent to many more disciplines
than we would traditionally associate with it.
Enough is now known to upset profoundly
our everyday notions of space, time, matter
and energy. Design is the discipline entrusted
with the construction of space. Humans have
torn themselves from the rest of nature, and
sustainable design is a way to repair the rift.
As planners and designers we need to design
so artfully and carefully as to help reconnect
people to nature and to their places (Orr 2007,
par 11). As design professionals we hold the
keys to creating a far better world than that
in prospect, but only if we respond creatively,
smartly, wisely and quickly to these facts (Orr
2007, par 11).
Resurrection of the Natural World and
Values Revisiting Concepts, revising
Paradigms
The concepts and arguments underpinning
a sustainable future and the need for society
as a whole to revisit and rethink the way
in which we utilise our natural assets have
been in the mainstream for decades. Yet
even with the strongest ecological evidence
supporting these concepts, i.e. that there are
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