‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

So how do we start to design a new ethics-based decision sphere?
First, as exemplified by the above discussion, we can start by assessing the structural pluses and 
minuses of our existing systems of governance. Even though sustainability was not understood when 
democratic systems of governance were first designed, our inherited constitutional decision spheres 
can perform vital functions:
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•
The market arena is designed for price and distributional efficiency (although it is not
efficient in terms of resource optimization). It could resolve competing interests between
individuals, and distribute private ‘wants’ and ‘preferences’ efficiently.
• 
The political policymaking arena is designed to allocate resources, although usually based on 
picking winners and losers. It could resolve competing demands of different interest groups
by implementing programmes that would increase natural capital, rather than divide it up. 
• 
The political law-making arena is designed to resolve conflicting interests over resources 
(although often based more on power than need). It could resolve future conflicts between
humans and nature by replacing constraints and incentives with positive actions.
• 
The legal arena is designed for settling disputes that have already materialized, although
based more on past rules than new responsibilities. It resolves conflicts when it is too late for
preventative legislation, and can also police systems of checks and balances. 
In practice, of course, these distinctions are largely conceptual. For example ‘wants’ created by the 
market are often protected as basic rights or needs in the political system. But this framework also 
reveals a fundamental 
gap
in our basic structure of governance.
So what is this fundamental gap in the basic structure of governance?
The gap is this. The sustainability imperative cannot be met by our present market, state or legal 
institutions. There is no decision-making arena that can 
adequately
:
•
Resolve competing interests between society and nature over the long term (by adaptive,
proactive design as opposed to incentives and constraints)
• 
Resolve the ethical issues inherent in sustainability (intra- and inter-generational equity, the
rights of other species to exist, etc) 
• 
Ensure that the means of survival and basic needs (including emotional and culturally based
needs) are protected, enhanced and accessible to all

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Constitution for Eco-governance
The reason that existing decision spheres cannot fulfil these functions is that each requires ecologically 
sustainable land use and development. While individual planners may do their best, conventional 
planning evolved as a mere administrative appendage of state and local governments (which are 
the levels responsible for land use in Australia and the US). We have already seen that our project-
assessment and futures-planning methods are anachronistic and fundamentally incompatible with 
sustainability [Chapter 12]. Therefore, a new planning sphere should be grafted onto our existing 
constitutional model, like the cerebral cortex was grafted onto our reptilian brain.
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