SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Historic Origins of Sustainability

DR AVLOKITA AGRAWAL
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

1
1. Sustainability
 1. Population Explosion

2. Departure of people and

communities from their
traditional professions to more
white collared jobs

3. More people are shifting to

urban centres
THE ROOTS OF OUR 4. More people are displaced
PROBLEMS within their countries because
of conflict and violence
“
more people, producing more, traveling more,
consuming more, and excreting more. There is
a much faster rate of resource consumption
than ever and a much faster pace at which
resources are being transformed into waste!!
–Ram Chandra Guha
 THE EFFECTS OF Because of this ever increasing pressure on natural resources
our cities are becoming more un-liveable

THESE PROBLEMS • • • Pollution

Traffic congestions
• Decrease in green cover
Lack of urban spaces for social interaction
 OVERCROWDING
LACK OF OPEN AND GREEN SPACES

TRAFFIC CONGECTION in Urban Areas

Spraying DDT over the fields

‘Silent Spring’ – Human Health and Environemnt

Rachel Carson highlighted the dangers of DDT in her groundbreaking 1962 book Silent Spring.
1962
7
First Earth Day 1970
8
Photo Credit: Robert Keziere / Greenpeace

Green Peace, Canada 1971

In 1971, a motley crew of anti-nuclear activists set out on a fishing trawler to protest US nuclear tests in Alasaka.

9
A scene in a village in Uttar Pradesh, now in Uttarakhand, in April 1973

Chipko movement 1973

The Chipko movement had started in the early 18th century in Rajasthan. A local woman, Amrita Devi, risked her life along with 84
villagers to protect the forest trees from being cut on the order of the king

10
Image source: www.npr.org, newscientist.com

OPEC OIL EMBARGO ( 17 OCT 1973 – 18 MAR 1974) 1973

Arab oil producers cut off exports to the U.S. to protest American military support for Israel in its 1973 war with Egypt and Syria.

11
U.S. enacts the Endangered Species Act (ESA 1973) 1973
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 serves as the enacting legislation to carry out the provisions outlined in The Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

12
Image source: www.devalt.org

DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES
Vision: A world where every citizen can live secure, healthy and fulfilling life, in harmony with nature.
1983
13
Image Source: http://vinestrategy.ca

GRAMEEN BANK 1983

Professor Muhammad Yunus is a revolutionary banker, economist and the founder of the Grameen Movement, a banking system
founded in Bangladesh in 1983 based on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right.

14
Image source: fabiusmaximus.com

1983 – 1985 Famine in Ethiopia 1984

From 1983-85 Ethiopia suffered the worst famine in its history. Over 400,000 people died over the two year period. A combination of
climate conditions and the policies of the incompetent Derg regime caused the famine.

15
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, addressing the UN General Assembly on Environment and Development, 19
October 1987. Source: UN Photo

BRUNDTLAND COMMISSION – OUR COMMON FUTURE

Our Common Future placed environmental issues firmly on the political agenda; it aimed to discuss the environment and
1987
development as one single issue.

16
Image source: spicyip.com

NEW POLICY ON SEED DEVELOPMENT 1988

‘New Policy on Seed Development’, aims to provide farmers the best planting materials available in the world so as to increase
productivity and there by increasing farm income and export earnings.

17
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 1992, IMAGE SOURCE: www.un.org

EARTH SUMMIT - RIO DE JANEIRO 1992

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio
Conference, and the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeirofrom 3 to 14 June in 1992.

18
The sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16) convened on Monday, 5 May 2008 at United Nations headquarters in New York.
Image Source: https://enb.iisd.org/csd/csd16/may05

1st session of the commission on sustainable development, New York

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development was a body under the UN Economic and Social Council tasked with
1993
overseeing the outcomes of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development/Earth Summit.

19
Heads of State and High-Level dignitaries who attended the World Summit for Social Development, in Copenhagen, Denmark from 6-12 March 1995.

WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, COPENHAGEN 1995

Governments reached a new consensus on the need to put people at the centre of development. The Social Summit was the largest
gathering ever of world leaders at that time.

20
ISO 14001: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT STANDARD 1996
ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations minimize how their
operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment

21
SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT – KYOTO PROTOCOL 1997
The Kyoto Protocol commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensusthat (part
one) global warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it.

22
Image source: www.slate.com

CONTROVERSY ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS 1998

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are increasingly becoming a topic of controversy in the U.S. and abroad. The public is
questioning their safety and wanting the products labeled as genetically modified.

23
Official Logo of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

UNITED NATIONS MILLENIUM DECLARATION 2000

At the start of the century, all 189 United Nations Member States unanimously agreed to forge a commitment via the Millennium
Declaration to assist the poorest to achieve better living standards by the year 2015.

24
The Earth Summit, Johannesburg, 2002

SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 2002

Convened to discuss [sustainable development] organizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

25
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhegan

COP 15 COPENHEGAN 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (MOP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol.

26
 Al Gore with a hockey stick graph of global temperature rise.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH 2006

An Inconvenient Truth presents illustrated talk on climate by Al Gore, aimed at alerting the public to an increasing
"planetary emergency" due to global warming.
27
28
COP 21, PARIS 2015
The expected key result of the Paris protocol is an agreement to set a goal of limiting global warming to "well below 2
°C" Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

29
Al Gore Patiently Tries Again with 'An Inconvenient Sequel'

AN INCONVINIENT SEQUEL
An Inconvenient Sequel Makes a Convenient Argument for Capitalism
2017
30
31
Thank You

32