Sustainability

Definition

Sustainability is the normative demand that present development meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs — an ethic of intergenerational responsibility that has become a central requirement of contemporary architectural practice. In this wiki, sustainability is philosophically grounded in Kant's cosmopolitics: the recognition of the Earth "as a sphere with limited land mass and natural resources" entails that humans "act as mutually dependent and responsible subjects in an interconnected, dynamic world" (Morgan). Benjamin supplies the historical-anthropological dimension through his "concern for intergenerational justice," which Elliott finds "timely for sustainable architecture." Sustainability thus connects planetary ecology to the ethics of what one generation owes another.

Key Thinkers

• Immanuel Kant — the cosmopolitical grounding of sustainability; limited resources, mutual responsibility.
• Walter Benjamin — intergenerational justice as timely for sustainable architecture.
• Bruno Latour — the climatic regime that makes sustainability urgent.

Related Concepts

• Ecology — the scientific-normative ground of sustainability.
• Cosmopolitics — the political frame for sustainable, planetary responsibility.
• Ethics — sustainability as an emergent moral demand on architecture.

Source Support

Sources in the wiki that discuss this concept:

• Kant for Architects — sustainability grounded in Kant's cosmopolitics.
• Benjamin for Architects — intergenerational justice and sustainable architecture.