Environmental Ethics in Architecture

1
Ethics, Climate Change and Sustainability
Environmental Ethics in Architecture
2
(No Transcript)
3
Practical Ethics

• Ethics Provides guidance for action.

Conventional Ethics Focuses on interpersonal
relations.
Environmental Ethics Provides guidance for
action that focuses on the welfare of the overall
environment (including humans) and not on
interpersonal relations.
Environmental Ethics in Architecture Provides
guidance for action in the practice of
architecture that focuses on the welfare of the
overall environment.
4
The Moral Class

• Who is due moral consideration? or, in
  architecture, Who (or what) should be regarded
  as stakeholders in our design decisions?

5
Three Categories of Environmental Ethics

• Shallow environmentalism and the precautionary
  principle anthropocentric, humans dominate

• Intermediate environmentalism humans given
  preference but other stakeholders considered

• Deep environmentalism no preference for humans

6
Another way of looking at thisA Theory of
General Ethics
7

• Warwick Fox puts forward the concept of
  Responsive Cohesion.
• He argues that responsive cohesion is a
  foundational value a value we should live by

8
What is responsive cohesion?

• Cohesive phenomena exhibit a mutual
  responsiveness of the component parts, as
  distinct from regimented, forced, dogmatic or
  formulaic alternatives, or the absence of any
  cohesion.

9
What is responsive cohesion?

• Fox argues that informed judges consider cohesive
  phenomena to be the best kind, whether in
  architecture, politics, conversation, literature
  or any other field of human activity.

10
There are three realms for responsive cohesion

• The biophysical (or natural) realm
• The social (or mindsharing) realm
• The compound material (or humanly constructed)
  realm

• Place,
• People
• Stuff)

11

• Considerations about how a part achieves
  responsive cohesion with its context should trump
  considerations regarding the parts internal
  cohesion.
• The largest context is the biophysical
  environment (sustaining the others) and the next
  largest context is the social environment.
• In designing a building, then, the responsive
  cohesion between the building and its contexts
  are more important than its internal cohesion,
  but both are sought.

12
Some ethical questions

• Where are the system boundaries?
• Eg the eco-resort
• Are offsets valid?
• Eg the carbon-neutral jet flight
• Should we consider opportunity costs?
• Eg Saving the money and spending it in other ways
• Are symbolic gestures valid?
• Eg (most) PV panels on the roof

13
Ethics, Climate Change and Sustainability

• Sustainability is an attribute of cohesive
  ecosystems (including human lifestyles and social
  practices), not objects
• The human practice of Architecture can help
  facilitate more sustainable lifestyles and social
  practices by other humans - but the notion of
  sustainable buildings as objects is meaningless

14
The Ethical MessageResponsive cohesion is a
foundational valuein architecture, in tackling
climate change, in promoting sustainabilityand
in everything else
15
thank you