How Does a Sustainable Future Look?

There’s much being said about sustainability currently. And even though it’s a priority in many agendas, there’s still a sense of ambiguity that affects the common understanding of these issues. How can we know if the current measures are actually helping? How can a wide effort be really boosted and kept going? Is there a way to make our modern life meet our need for sustainability?

The global problem we’re facing is a lack of stability. For any ecosystem to survive, all its elements must keep an equilibrium. These times, ruled by hyper consumerism, hyper production and even hyper connection, are moving at a pace that has destabilized not only the natural environment but also many other social aspects. This must not pass unadvertised when we talk about sustainability: the search for equilibrium must include every single aspect, otherwise it will only be a shallow facade with no actual effect on our world’s future.

For this equilibrium to be efficiently pursued, we must first acknowledge every single aspect that is being affected by these conditions. Climate change, resources mismanagement, housing crisis, power and economical inequalities and development costs are just some of these issues. All of these problems demand an integral approach: authorities, private industries, civil society and even educational institutions are all compelled. 

This strategy must involve restorative measures as well as new routes to be followed from now on to create a more resilient future. Architects and engineers play key roles in this process. How do we turn the cities we have built into healthier and more sustainable places? How do we keep growing and evolving with these notions in mind? How must a sustainable city look, feel, grow and move?

While facing this global crisis, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. However, this is also an opportunity we must seize to build more equal environments both socially and ecologically. Every single agent must take responsibility within their field of action and we must all, as a society, unite our forces towards a better present and a better future. It’s not too late to build an equal and healthy world for all. WE RECOMMEND YOU TO READ Architecture in Connection with Nature

• The Future of Sustainability Report 2020, The Futures Centre,

https://www.thefuturescentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Future-of-Sustainability-2020_Time-to-transform.pdf

• Crowell, The World in 2050 Pursues Paths to a Sustainable Future, EOS, https://eos.org/features/the-world-in-2050-pursues-paths-to-a-sustainable-future