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

Did the idea of skipping impediments and focusing on implementation work?
Actually, no. The assumption was that best practice is as ‘green’ as we can hope for in the given socio-
political climate. The proposition introduced at the beginning – that the bar for green design could be 
raised to a ‘sustainability standard’ – was ignored. Instead, the conversation centred around why the 
standard light green model was not more widely adopted. This was understandable, of course, as the 
expert participants had made huge personal sacrifices in trying to get ‘light green’ accepted. Green 
designers are still generally viewed as either radical fringe or ‘boutique’. They face an uphill battle to get 
their work adopted in an era of mass-produced suburbs. In this context, designers cannot be expected 
to push the boundaries further. On the other hand, the educational and incentive programmes of 
government will not progress to a more ecological level if ecology is not on the agenda of leading green 
design professionals. As we noted earlier, even if all buildings were green by today’s ‘best practice’ 
standard, such green cities and suburbs would not be sustainable. Strategies to implement ‘greener’ 
buildings are gradually making more headway, but they do not target the fundamental issue: the lack of 
sound eco-logical design premises and models in the first place. To design sustainable environments, 
then, ecological designers need to challenge their field’s ‘best practice’ design precepts, processes and 
products – not set the bar at the height of their comfort zone.
Did the conclusions of the workshop participants support this view?
The consensus of the participants was that, while there were many impediments to the uptake of 
eco-logical design, the ‘lack of public awareness’ was the biggest issue. This popular view translates 
roughly into ‘the problem is other people’. Most workshops that aim at furthering the sustainable 
development agenda seem to end up as tacit ‘buck passing’ sessions: 
•
Architects say they cannot do things differently because clients and builders lack
environmental concern or awareness
• 
Builders say they have to do what the designers and clients tell them to do, and designers
make lots of ‘practical’ mistakes (ie do not follow convention)
• 
Developers say they have to follow the market, but virtually no resource autonomous homes 
exist in the market
• 
Clients say they cannot find architects or builders that can deliver truly green but low-cost 
buildings, and that many actually discourage their client’s green ambitions
• 
Educators say, to quote an architecture department head, “We will teach sustainable design
when the profession (ie accreditation panels) demands it”
In this vicious circle, 
other
people in government, community or business organizations will always 
need to change first.