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

Ecological 
Collapse
The point 
at which 
ecosystems 
cross the 
threshold of 
viability into 
oblivion
Typical 
Developments
Best Practice
Zero Waste
Where there is 
no net loss of 
Ecological Base 
(biophysical 
life support 
system) and 
Public Estate 
(social support 
system)
Net Positive
What we 
measure
What we do 
NOT measure
What we should 
also measure
Figure 2 What we do and do not measure

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22
Positive Development
Then where do we begin to improve environmental management?
The list of places where we could begin the Positive Development process is endless. Chapter 15 
outlines some steps to guide action. However, the first and largest step is to challenge the status 
quo. The status quo is the ongoing, irreversible redistribution and concentration of wealth and 
power. It is inherently unstable. Thus planning, design and innovation will continue to re-enforce 
non-sustainable built environments, conceal resource and wealth transfers, and re-distribute wealth 
through a vertical integration process. This is leading us to increasing ‘piratization’, where de facto 
or direct control over public resources is given to special (public or private) interests. An example 
is the case of bio-piracy.60 Not only have impoverished people around the world lost rights to 
indigenous medicines, some must now pay for local water or timber that is ‘managed’ by international 
corporations, as documented by Maude Caldwell and others.61 The solution is therefore not to foster 
greater uptake of ‘best practice’ environmental management processes and decision tools, but to 
replace and/or supplement them with creative design processes and projects. That is to say, we need 
to shift from environmental management frameworks that legitimize tradeoffs to those that enable 
design for ecology and equity. We need to replace incremental targets with action. Ultimately, the 
full transition to Positive Development will require new forms of design, transdisciplinarity, and a 
new approach to eco-governance [Chapter 15].