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

Natural capital
and
eco-services
Greening built 
environment
Eco-productive 
farming,
forestry, 
etc
Impacts of the
built environment
Impacts of industrial 
agriculture, fishing, 
forestry, etc
Population growth
Net positive 
development – an 
increase in the 
ecological base
Existing
eco-services are 
being eroded 
despite mitigation 
measures

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Positive Development
Box 2 Eco-logical Design Defined
Design is a fluid, adaptive and self-generating way of thinking, so it does not lend itself well to 
rules or prescriptions. Nonetheless, a set of adjectives is provided to describe the nature of 
design, as used in this book:
1
Responsible
: Eco-logical design redefines project goals around issues of basic needs, social 
equity, environmental justice and ecological sustainability. Eco-logical design involves reconsid
-
ering the end uses or purposes served by products, buildings, landscapes and other designed 
systems. (It does not simply aim to reduce inputs and outputs.)
Synergistic
: Eco-logical design creates positive feedback loops between different functional 
elements to foster systems change. Whereas ‘pyramidal’ design creates negative externalities, 
eco-logical design creates positive synergies and seeds opportunities for reciprocities and 
symbioses in other dimensions beyond the specific design ‘problem’. 
Contextual
: Eco-logical design involves re-evaluating design conventions and concepts in the 
context of changing socio-political and economic systems, in order to contribute to positive 
social transformation. While a design must work within given cultural and political contexts 
to transform them, it should also contribute to a more eco-sensitive culture. For example, it 
can help shape consumer demand towards less materialistic aims.