BOOK REVIEW

Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated Eco-logical Solutions
by Janis Birkeland. Earthscan, 2002

Ecological footprint, radical resource reduction, limits to growth, the genuine progress indicator, the Earth Charter, low-impact housing design, permaculture, industrial ecosystems, urban metabolism. If you are interested in such things, this is the book for you. It’s a collection of articles on how to design our settlements, neighbourhoods and homes for long-term environmental and social benefits. Contributors include Bill Mollison, Ted Trainer, Clive Hamilton, Tim Cadman and William Rees.

Read, learn, influence!

This book is now in the Environment Centre library for loan to members.

CONTENTS

Chapter Outlines
Preface
Introduction

Section 1: Designing Eco-solutions
1.1 Education for Eco-innovation
1.2 The Centrality of Design
1.3 Green Philosophy
1.4 Responsible Design

Section 2: The Concepts of Growth and Waste
2.1 Limits to Growth and Design of Settlements
2.2 Redefining Progress
2.3 Designing Waste
2.4 Designing for Durability

Section 3: Industrial, Urban and Construction Ecology
3.1 Industrial Ecology
3.2 Urban Ecology
3.3 Construction Ecology
3.4 Pollution Prevention by Design

Section 4: Design within Complex Social Systems
4.1 Complexity and the Urban Environment
4.2 Unified Human Community Ecology
4.3 The Bionic Method in Industrial Design
4.4 Green Theory in the Construction Fields

Section 5: Permaculture and Landscape Design
5.1 Permaculture and Design Education
5.2 The Sustainable Landscape
5.3 Place, Community Values and Planning
5.4 Playgardens and Community Development

Section 6: Values Embodied in and Reinforced by Design
6.1 Urban Forms and the Dominant Paradigm
6.2 Models of Ecological Housing
6.3 Marketing-led Design
6.4 Gender and Product Semantics

Section 7: Design for Community Building and Health
7.1 ESD and 'Sense of Community'
7.2 Sustainability and Aboriginal Housing
7.3 Indoor Air Quality in Housing
7.4 Beyond the Chemical Barrier

Section 8: Productivity, Land and Transport Efficiency
8.1 Greening the Workplace
8.2 Sustainable Personal Urban Transport
8.3 From Sub-urbanism to Eco-cities
8.4 Density, Environment and the City

Section 9: Design with Less Energy Materials and Waste
9.1 Living Technologies
9.2 Housing Wastewater Solutions
9.3 Autonomous Servicing
9.4 Timber Waste Minimisation by Design

Section 10: Low-impact Housing Design and Materials
10.1 Earth Building
10.2 Strawbale Construction
10.3 Bamboo as a Building Resource
10.4 Hemp Architecture

Section 11: Construction and Environmental Regulation
11.1 Legislative Environmental Controls
11.2 Economic Instruments
11.3 Building Codes and Sustainability
11.4 Assessing Building Materials

Section 12: Planning and Project Assessment
12.1 Planning for Ecological Sustainability
12.2 Bioregional Planning
12.3 Environmental Management Tools
12.4 Limits of Environmental Impact Assessment

Glossary
Index