The Urban Design Group's annual celebration of excellence in urban design will this year be held at the Royal Overseas League in St James's, Central London and will showcase some of the best examples of urban design work produced in the UK and beyond over the past 12 months.

For more information about the Urban Design Group

‘Lucan’s narrative, as he develops this ‘story of a word’, is never dry or dull, as the question is always addressed through examples – whether drawn from the rule books, or analysed as the processes by which projects emerge.’

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The second entry by Steffen Lehmann, series editor of the new Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design can be found below!

The new Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design
BY STEFFEN LEHMANN, series editor of the new Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design.

I am pleased to introduce the new Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design, which I am editing. The first two titles are Designing for Zero Waste (2012) and Motivating Change (forthcoming in 2013), both of which I have co-edited with Dr Robert Crocker. The next volume will be Low Carbon Cities (currently in production).

All books in this series are authored and edited by leading academics and practitioners in the field of sustainable design. Although there has been an immense amount of theory- and technology-focused writing published on the topic of sustainable design, many of these books have failed to introduce readers to the wider challenge of what the rethinking of design, production, and operation and re-use/recycling of all products, buildings and cities really means. Sustainability is not a passing fashion, and people are constantly searching for more reliable information and relevant ideas, and thinking of emerging systems in this area.

The Earthscan series aims to develop a theoretical framework for how different theories of sustainable design might engage with the practice of architects, designers, urban planners and related professions. The books equip readers with the tools for realising the full potential of the good intentions of sustainable design and offer a novel alignment of interdisciplinary perspectives on the problems of global consumerism and strategies to avoid resource waste.

The books in this series will be essential reading for professionals and students, researchers and experts, industry and government agencies, and are a highly useful addition to the literature, focusing on key topics in sustainable design, urban development and city transformation.

One of the issues explored is the question: how can we move towards environmentally sustainable design and reduced consumption quickly enough? There have been dire warnings about the implications of global climate change and a strain on the full range of resources from fuel to food. But there is neither regulations nor political will to make the changes to meet the growing challenges for urban communities for the next 20 years and beyond.

How much longer can we sustain the high-consumption lifestyle we are used to? To get the full picture on consumerism and over-consumption, we need to understand interconnected global systems of production and consumption. We hope to embed notions of sustainable consumption with architects, designers and urban planners, who all face different challenges depending on where they are in the world.

Choosing sustainable building materials and systems goes beyond considering durability. We need to take lifecycle analysis and supply chain into account, and specify the most appropriate materials for a project – the least polluting, most easily recyclable, most energy efficient (least embodied energy) – from sustainable sources. We need to refocus on avoiding waste creation in the first place and rethink the way we design and construct products, buildings and cities to facilitate re-use and disassembly at their end of life.

This change of focus makes the concept of zero waste both powerful and controversial. From a purely economic point of view, producing waste is unproductive. But reversing the existing, wasteful business system and manufacturing practices is not a fast, easy or cheap process. If we can begin at the beginning and design waste out of the picture, we can recover not only the final product, but also the energy, materials and time embodied in the product or building.

The zero waste ethos is a big call – radical in its ramifications – and it requires more than a top-down, government-imposed approach. To be successful, zero waste needs to be embraced and implemented by citizens, community groups, business and industry. It is already technologically possible to build a zero-waste and zero-carbon-emission city.

The question is: are we willing to transform from consumers into citizens?

Professor Steffen Lehmann, PhD, is the series editor of the Earthscan Series on Sustainable Design and an internationally highly respected architect, urbanist and scholar. Steffen is currently professor of Sustainable Design at the University of South Australia, where he is also director of the Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour and director of the China−Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. See more on Steffen’s work at: slab.com.au.

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The first entry by Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill, authors of the new book Enough Is Enough can be found below! 

What if "Enough" Supplanted "More"? A Simple Concept for a Seismic Economic Shift

BY ROB DIETZ AND DAN O'NEILL, authors of the new book, Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources.
 

Economic growth is the highest priority for almost every nation on Earth. Politicians compete with one another to see who can promise the fastest growth. Newscasters report rising economic indicators with glee. Economists in both government and academia promote an agenda of endless growth. But there’s something odd about all this cheerleading for growth.

Even though many wealthy nations have achieved consistent economic growth since the end of World War II, their citizens aren’t getting any happier. And all of this growth has come with huge environmental costs, such as climate destabilization, pollution, and the depletion of natural resources that are critical to life on Earth. The mania for more has become counterproductive and even destructive.

More is certainly a good thing when you don’t have enough. For instance, if you can’t find enough to eat, then more food is better. If the alarm wakes you up before you’ve gotten enough sleep, hitting the snooze button and resting for a few more minutes feels great. But what about times when you do have enough? Eating more food leads to obesity, and sleeping too much could be classified as a medical condition. More, then, may be either helpful or harmful, depending on the situation, but enough is the amount that’s just right.

Suppose that instead of the never-ending pursuit of more stuff, more jobs, more consumption, and more income, we aimed for enough stuff, enough jobs, enough consumption, and enough income. What if enough took the place of more as the organizing principle for the economy?

To make such a change work, we would need to eliminate the "growth imperative"—the collection of policies that make the economy dependent on growth. Currently if there is not growth, then there is recession, and the whole economic tapestry quickly begins to unravel. But it doesn’t have to be this way. With a different set of policies we can create an economy that does not require growth to guarantee jobs, to maintain a stable financial system, or to meet people's needs. For example, we can use the benefits of technological progress to reduce working hours and lower unemployment, instead of using them to produce and sell more stuff. We can grant the Bank of England the power to manage the money supply directly, instead of allowing private banks to create most of our money in the form of interest-bearing loans. By reforming certain key economic institutions, we can decommission the growth imperative and build an economy that works for people and the planet.

Such changes will be difficult to implement. For starters, there seems to be a stalemate in politics in which leaders are content to exchange platitudes rather than address the profound problems facing society (e.g., climate destabilization, poverty, and inequality). And there's the power of inertia—we've become accustomed to growth, and despite all the evidence that the strategy of continuous economic growth has outlived its usefulness, we are hesitant to try something new. But in this age of uncertainty, marked by the threat of financial collapse, unemployment, corporate scandals, and relentless news of environmental calamities, who would complain (except maybe a few bank CEOs and other super-rich beneficiaries of the status quo) if we adopted policies to stabilize the economy and improve the lives of the vast majority?

Imagine an economy that can meet people's needs without undermining the life-support systems of the planet. Imagine an economy founded on fairness instead of foolishness. Imagine taking action to begin the transition. One thing's for certain: the changes will only materialize when we achieve widespread recognition that enough is enough.

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Ian Butt, Programme Leader HNC/D Construction and the Built Environment, City of Bath College

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RIBA Enterprises remains the exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland.
 

RIBA Publishing is one of the leading providers of high quality information for architects, built environment professionals and students around the world and is therefore an ideal complement to our own Routledge Architecture, Construction, Planning and Landscape lists. For full details of this distribution deal click here

See below for some of the key, new and forthcoming titles from RIBA Publishing.

Those considering an architectural education, or those disgruntled in practice, are recommended to read this snapshot of architecture on the cusp of some great changes, whether we like it or not.

Authors Jerry Yudelson and Ulf Meyer examined hundreds of the highest-rated large green buildings from around the world and asked their owners to supply one simple thing: actual performance data, to demonstrate their claims to sustainable operations.

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The launch event is free but places are limited, so please register here in advance to ensure a place. The first 50 people to register will be entered in a draw to win a free copy of the book!

Rob Dietz is editor of the Daly News and the former executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). Dan O'Neill is a lecturer in ecological economics at the University of Leeds, UK and the chief economist for CASSE.

Discover more information about Enough is Enough on the CASSE website here. You can also visit and like the book's Facebook page.

Please note: Enough is Enough will not be available through Routledge in the shipping regions of America, Canada and South Asia (specifically India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan). For more information on purchasing options within these regions please visit www.bkconnection.com.