Air Pollution
H A B I T A T INTL. Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 279-292, 1995
Pergamon
Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain 0197-3975/95 $9.50 + 0.00
0197-3975(94)00071-9
Sustainable Development and the Construction Industry*
ROBIN SPENCE and HELEN MULLIGANt
Cambridge University, UK and tCambridge Architectural Research Limited, UK
ABSTRACT
The construction industry, together with the materials industries which support it, is one of the major global exploiters of natural resources, both physical and biological. The industry thus contributes very significantly to the current unsustainable development path of the global economy. This paper has two purposes. First, it attempts to identify the principal ways in which construction contributes to environmental stress, and to quantify the contribution of construction where possible. Secondly, it considers the means available to reduce these environmental impacts, through improved technology, design or changed practices; and it suggests ways in which governments can take action to promote these changes.
THE C O N C E P T OF SUSTAINABLE D E V E L O P M E N T
Sustainability is now a key concept in development thinking at all levels. Over the last two decades there has been a growing understanding of the world and its inhabitants as a single system, and of the need to combine two key global aims in the development of human activities: to accelerate human development, particularly in the poorest countries, and to remove the gross inequities present in the world today; while at the same time avoiding the depletion of the resources and biological systems of the planet to such an extent that future generations will be impoverished. The idea of sustainable development was well summarised by the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, ~ which starts with the premise that "Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable - - to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without
Pergamon
Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain 0197-3975/95 $9.50 + 0.00
0197-3975(94)00071-9
Sustainable Development and the Construction Industry*
ROBIN SPENCE and HELEN MULLIGANt
Cambridge University, UK and tCambridge Architectural Research Limited, UK
ABSTRACT
The construction industry, together with the materials industries which support it, is one of the major global exploiters of natural resources, both physical and biological. The industry thus contributes very significantly to the current unsustainable development path of the global economy. This paper has two purposes. First, it attempts to identify the principal ways in which construction contributes to environmental stress, and to quantify the contribution of construction where possible. Secondly, it considers the means available to reduce these environmental impacts, through improved technology, design or changed practices; and it suggests ways in which governments can take action to promote these changes.
THE C O N C E P T OF SUSTAINABLE D E V E L O P M E N T
Sustainability is now a key concept in development thinking at all levels. Over the last two decades there has been a growing understanding of the world and its inhabitants as a single system, and of the need to combine two key global aims in the development of human activities: to accelerate human development, particularly in the poorest countries, and to remove the gross inequities present in the world today; while at the same time avoiding the depletion of the resources and biological systems of the planet to such an extent that future generations will be impoverished. The idea of sustainable development was well summarised by the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, ~ which starts with the premise that "Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable - - to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without