Sustainable Design Year 2050

1. How would you describe the meaning of sustainable design in the year 2050?

With the world’s population rapidly growing the worlds resources will continue to be consumed to adjust and adapt to the pressures received through this expansion. Allison Ewing in the article Building Design + Performances states that “Those of us committed to changing… must define a new species of building”.  In this article she goes further on to explain that this entails providing more with less, thinking more efficiently and rethinking the conventional building process. With this we must begin to design building that provide a connection to nature, reduced energy use by  intelligently selecting appropriate building materials and construction systems, rethink the conventional building practices so that they have more adaptive solutions. One method to accomplish these is through the study and practice of biomimicry. In the article A Biomimicry Primer Janine M. Benyus defines biomimicry as “learning from and then emulating natural forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs.” It is no longer enough to reuse and recycle material but begin to seek nature’s advice through every stage of design and construction, and working with biologist for the right solution. Because if truly examined and thought through an issue one will find that nature (our predecessor) has already provided a solution, method and blueprint that shows us how to adapt and create conditions that we require like “filter air, clean water, build soil-how to keep the habitat lush and livable.” This is now what the meaning and requirement of sustainable design is in the year 2050.

 2. What are going to be the main drivers for sustainability at that point in time, particularly for the city of Boston?

The main drivers for sustainability in the year 2050 will be the requirement of people working together to discover and develop designs that are a biomimicry. This will include working with scientist throughout this process to figure out which solution is fit for the climate and location of the project, so that we can then mimic the structure that nature has already developed to adapt.

There are several ways to bring “nature’s wisdom to all parts of our economy” and Boston as a city has begun working on capturing energy, filtering liquids and cooperating to build a sustainable environment. But to further advance this process is having design professionals and those in the construction field become certified so that solutions to improving public health, reducing air pollutions, traffic congestion, creating a cleaner and safer environment.