The Roles of Architects in Sustainable Community Development

Abstract

To create sustainability in a community, architects need to integrate the concept of sustainable communitydevelopment in their actions both as citizens and professionals. While the role of architects as professionalscan be defined as a process to preserve, improve and create the required quality of built environment under theparticular condition of each community, in an ideal and sustainable world their role as citizens should be tobecome sustainable members of their own community. This paper aims to consider ways in which architectscan fulfill both roles and thus act for community sustainability. Although this analysis is idealistic rather thanrealistic it does suggest principles on which architects can base their actions in sustainable communitydevelopment, related to realization of their roles and responsibility, personal self-improvement, professionaland citizen actions for a sustainable community, and collaborative development. These principles interrelatewith and influence each other. Although architects’ roles in sustainable community development can vary withthe particular situation, their actions as professionals and citizens always overlap. To strengthen architects’actions for sustainable community development, continual encouragement and development at personal andcollaborative levels is required.