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2    Setting the Scene

In this section:

The built environment

The built environment generally refers to the “[human] made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places” (Moffatt et al, 2008).  In the New Zealand context, the built environment includes both urban and rural elements.  The scale of the built environment varies, from small rural service centres such as Oxford, Canterbury, to larger cities such as Wellington and Auckland.

The built environment delivers economic, social and cultural benefits and generally provides a suitable environment for humans to reside and work in.  The built environment also, however, has wide ranging negative environmental impacts, including impacts associated with air quality, water and energy consumption, transport accessibility, materials use and management of waste.

Government organisations in New Zealand have a significant role to play in the built environment, in particular because of the number of buildings owned or managed by government agencies, such as schools, hospitals, office accommodation and so on.  Central and local government are also major developers of the built environment, being responsible for approximately 30 per cent of all construction in New Zealand.

It is important to recognise that the built environment does not solely comprise buildings, infrastructure and transport.  It includes the human community, cultural experiences and interactions of people.  The interaction between these components influences how the built environment develops over time and contributes to developing a ‘sense of place’, meaning the character or essence of a place, comprising all of its features, whether natural or constructed.

Sustainable development in the global context

The commonly accepted definitions of sustainable development focus on the use of resources by the current generation in a manner that does not negatively affect the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  Curwell and Cooper (1998) identify three other common ways to describe sustainable development: ‘environment’ refers to the preservation of local and global ecosystems to sustain all life; ‘public participation’ acknowledges the need for all people to participate in positive change; and ‘equity’ refers to a fair sharing of global resources for both human and non-human life.  In essence, therefore, a sustainable built environment could be described as one which takes into account the needs of future generations, ecological health, public participation and equity.

Several authors (Reed, 2006; Kellert, 2004; McDonough, 2002) suggest that current sustainability practice as applied to the built environment is insufficient to achieve a sustainable environment.  The intended outcome of ‘green’ or ‘high performance’ design is to do ‘less harm’; a relative improvement to what exists now.  Sustainable development or ‘achieving a steady state’ is neutral or ‘100 per cent less bad’ (McDonough, 2002).

According to these authors, the goal of a sustainable built environment is restoration or regeneration.  This implies a living or whole-systems approach to development which looks at the human and non-human ecology of the built environment.  In taking a whole-systems approach, a more expansive notion of the built environment is required, one where dynamic relationships exist between a greater number of built and un-built elements and where a balanced, sustainable relationship between these elements is explored (Moffat et al, 2008).

A systems approach to development is not new (Reed, 2007a).  Patrick Geddes (1854–1932), the father of regional planning, emphasised connections between the city and the countryside.  Geddes developed a theory of ‘biopolis’, a two-pronged approach to viewing the city as an organic entity (Heinonen et al, 2006).  Moffatt et al (2008) refer to 1930s German landscape architect, Leberecht Migge, who formulated and implemented principles of urban metabolism in developing social housing for workers – a balanced socio-ecological metabolism for organics.

More recently, the oil shocks of the 1970s contributed towards a groundswell of thinking about sustainability, ecology and landscape, which built on the thinking of people such as McHarg (Design with Nature) and Leopold (A Sand County Almanac) and their understanding of connections between nature and humans.  Decreasing oil prices and increased economic security during the 1980s curtailed the development of a critical mass to take these concepts forward.

The concepts explored in this research document have percolated under the surface of conventional approaches to the built environment for decades.  However, the increased focus on the whole-systems approach within the current global context is new.  The majority of the world’s population now live in urban environments.  Urban development is rapid, and its environmental effects are immense and long lasting.  Preventing development is unrealistic.  There is, however, a need for a more sustainable built environment, which recognises this more expansive notion of the built environment and which looks to the concepts of restorative and regenerative development.

Sustainable development in New Zealand

In New Zealand there is a growing awareness, particularly over the last five years, of the importance of a sustainable built environment.  This is reflected in a number of ways, including the development of the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol, the establishment of the New Zealand Green Building Council and Green Star rating scheme, and establishment of research consortiums, such as Beacon Pathway.

Despite these initiatives, it is important to consider whether current actions are sufficient to bridge the gap between the existing built environment in New Zealand and the sustainable built environment we will need in future.  It is likely that a significant shift in thinking will be required, along with a strategic response that identifies the actions necessary over the short, medium, long and extra-long terms.