Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
Morris (2009:1) points out that Schumacher
used the term “appropriate technology” to refer
to “technologies that fit local conditions, are
inexpensive, small-scale, simple to use, made
from local materials, do not deplete natural
resources, and help create fulfilling jobs and
workplaces, especially for poor and rural
people”, and these were intended to promote
self-reliance. Schumacher’s book Small Is
Beautiful highlights some the important themes
(Morris 2009:2):
• The importance of human scale,
• The idea of natural capital; treating nature as
capital and not as income,
• Including concern for workers and
environmental integrity in business decisions,
• The “economy of permanence”, based on
sustainable use of natural resources, and
• Decentralism and a belief in community selfreliance.
Although AT and the related concepts
declined in the 1980s and 1990s, the
principles reemerged at the beginning of the
20th century. Environmental crises, energy
crises, and climate change are among the
triggers, which aided what the early AT
advocates intended in industrial countries
such as reduction of polluting industries,
renewable energy, and ecological protection.
However, the “alternative energy challenge
was being interpreted through the incumbent,
industrial frame, into which AT ideas did not
fit comfortably” (Smith 2005:112). Wind and
solar energy technologies are very expensive
and require a considerable initial investment.
A plant manager in a German solar panel
factory stated (pers. Communication June
2010) that the establishment of a new factory
requires huge amounts from Government,
i.e. subsidies. This is one reason why no
production facility operates in Southern Africa.
Laszlo (2010) summarises arguments for a
further evolution of technology:
“The evolutionary challenge for
technology in the third millennium is one
of designing the vehicles for sustainable
human and societal development in
partnership with earth. The challenge
calls for the conscious creation of
evolutionary systems-not through the
‘hard technologies’ that shape and
mold the physical infrastructure of our
planet, but through ‘soft technologies’
that augment creative and constructive
processes of human interaction.
Through them, humanity has the
opportunity to create the conditions for
the emergence of a true learning society
at both regional and global levels. The
meaning of key terms such as evolution,
technology, and development must be
explored if we are to create a shared
understanding of the contemporary
survival challenges faced by humanity”.
The soft technologies inter alia refer to
attitudes, ethics, and other psychological
factors, where the hard technologies include
alternative technologies. The combination
of these two factors can be found in what is
termed Eco-materials and green building.
Ecomaterials is defined by EcoSouth as those
construction materials that are ecologically and
economically viable (ECOsur, 2010a). Due to
the diminishing income from the sale of sugar
to the former Soviet Union after 1989, Cuba
began to develop its own building materials.
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