Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability - Softcover

Hes, Dominique; Du Plessis, Chrisna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138800627 ISBN 13: 9781138800625

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

Synopsis

A forward looking book on sustainable design that describes problems and then, by providing a different way to conceptualise design and development, leads on to examples of regenerative solutions. Its aim is to move the discussion away from doing less, but still detracting from our ecological capital, to positively contributing and adding to this capital. This book offers a hopeful response to the often frightening changes and challenges we face; arguing that we can actively create a positive and abundant future through mindful, contributive engagement that is rooted in a living systems based worldview. Concepts and practices such as Regenerative Development, Biophilic Design, Biomimicry, Permaculture and Positive Development are explored through interviews and case studies from the built environment to try and answer questions such as: ‘How can projects focus on creating a positive ecological footprint and contribute to community?’; How can we as practitioners restore and enrich the relationships in our projects?; and ‘How does design focus hope and create a positive legacy?’

About this title

About the Author

Dominique Hes is an academic at the University of Melbourne who has been asking: ‘Why, when we have been "doing" sustainability for so long, are we having an ever-increasing impact?’ People create such beauty with music, food, art, buildings and community, so why is it so difficult to be a thriving part of the earth’s systems? She has degrees in Science (Botany) from the University of Melbourne, Engineering (Cleaner Production) and a PhD in Architecture from RMIT University, Australia.

Chrisna du Plessis is Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Economics, University of Pretoria, South Africa, where she explores what concepts such as resilience and regenerative design would mean for how we think about urban sustainability and how we live our lives. She holds degrees in architecture from the University of Pretoria, a PhD from the University of Salford, UK and an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

Review

"Designing for Hope provides excellent resources and recommendations for further reading. It would be equally at home on the bookshelf of academics, students, and practitioners in any of the disciplines that work in sustainable urban design, and useful for any decision-maker involved in the planning and design of our cities and towns." – Lia Labuschange, Earthworks

"Designing for Hope marshalls ideas, tools, techniques, the social and personal agencies and the motivating ideas required to change direction. Theirs is not a utopian vision – although vision is indispensable – but a set of processes with the potential at least to stop the rot and re-invigorate organic growth and human sensibility." – Malcolm Skilbeck

"Designing for Hope represents a timely, important and necessary contribution to the literature that provides a powerful characterization of current and alternative world views. It also offers a comprehensive coverage of the scope and emphasis of regenerative sustainability." – BRI Review, Raymond J. Cole University of British Columbia, Canada

"It’s a beautiful book, with photography used liberally to enhance and explain the various topics. An international range of case studies from both the developed and developing world shows that embedding the ecological worldview into projects is achievable at both the small project scale through to multi-million dollar developments like Singapore’s Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital." – Willow Aliento, The Fifth Estate

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1138800627
• ISBN 13: 9781138800625
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252