Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK 2
Figure 2. Barriers to innovation in the Australian Building and the Construction Industry (Manley,
2006)
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Sustainability
Overview and Definitions
Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. It has become a wide-ranging term that can
be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale and over various time
periods. The existence of more than 70 different definitions for sustainability (Holmberg and
Sandbrook, 1992) highlighted its significance and showed the efforts made by different academic and
practical disciplines to define and understand its implications to their fields. Yet, all definitions agree
that it is essential to consider the future of the planet and find innovative ways to protect and enhance
the Earth while satisfying various stakeholders’ needs (Boyko et al, 2006). There is now abundant
scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably. This is obvious in using non-renewable
resources, land dereliction, waste generation, water contamination, and energy consumption for
instance (Othman, 2009). Returning human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will
require a major collective effort. Since the 1980s, sustainability has implied the integration of
economic, social and environmental spheres to meet the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (United Nations General Assembly, 1987).
Efforts towards living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganising living conditions
(e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising economic sectors (green
building, sustainable agriculture), or work practices (sustainable architecture), using science to
develop new technologies (green technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual
lifestyles.
The challenge is about finding the balance between environmental considerations, society
requirements and economic constraints (Hui, 2002).