Social sustainability and the housing problem

Abstract

The issue of sustainability which started as an environmental concern has been defined in a number of ways, each reflecting a particular approach. While the term sustainability has been in use for around three decades, the most referred to aspects are environmental, economic and social sustainability. Environmental sustainability is perhaps the most easily quantified. The impact of development on the ecology of the earth is to be kept to a minimum. The embodied energy of materials used on site, the energy consumption of the development once complete and lived in are measured or projections of such consumption are considered in order to gauge the impact of the development. Economic sustainability is probably the most easily quantifiable of the three measures of sustainability. The project simply cannot be carried out unless it functions as an economic proposition.