Ecology AND Technology May 9, 2013

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being invited to speak with the BE2Camp at the Greenbuild Expo at Manchester Central.

BE2Camp is is a place, a gathering and a learning environment set up by four web 2.0 enthusiasts who also share a vision of building a more sustainable environment.  Their egalitarian and collaborative ethos was evidenced by the structure of the event which invited speakers to share knowledge in a punchy Pecha Kucha style and inviting the audience to present their ideas in free slots.

Speakers included:
Hattie Hartman, Sustainability Editor of the Architect’s Journal
Claire Bowles, Project Director, Construction Knowledge Exchange
Martin Brown (FairSnape)
Paul Wilkinson, PR, Social Media & Sustainability
Prof. Angus McIntosh, Oxford Brookes University
Paul Toyne, Global Head of Sustainability at WSP
Duncan Reed, Design Manager at Balfour Beatty

Being prone to labouring a point, I was challenged by the Pecha Kucha style but managed to give a summary of the social media I’ve been using as part of architectural management teaching for developing reflective and collaborative learning as well as the #twittercritter events.  These experiences of using social media in learning can be directly supplanted into industry environments and specifically into project processes, to facilitate more effective collaboration, foster innovation and promote knowledge sharing – as long as certain guidelines are followed.  I’ll go into that in more detail in a future post.

There was no agenda, no title and no specific focus for the presentation beyond sharing something that could contribute to the improvement of visionary sustainability thinking.  This allowed some serendipity in the coming together of seemingly different subjects, but deriving a common message.  It was all streamed live and suitable snippets tweeted (#be2gbe).

Duncan presented the vision of the Living Building Challenge, which offered the usual in relation to responsible material sourcing and performance but I was pleased to see the inclusion of nature, beauty and place as key elements of a sustainable building.  Paul Toyne gave a more global view emphasising the need to nurture and safeguard biodiversity and implement ecosystem management as this natural capital may be critical in our increasingly urbanised and climate altered future.  Prof. Angus Mackintosh also gave a well-illustrated comparison of Bournville (a liveable environment) and Cumbernauld (a not so liveable environment) to demonstrate the need for place and identity to be high priorities when defining sustainable cities.

Source:  Innovation Management

So, to synthesise these seemingly different subjects, a message that appears worthy of discussion is one of education.  Do any architecture courses have dedicated modules that focus on ecology, biodiversity, ecosystem management, landscape or place/identity?  I don’t know of any.  If our built environment students do not graduate with a deep understanding of the science of environment that matches their understanding of building technologies, then surely all we can ever hope for is a superficial greenwash when it comes to built environment sustainability.            Discuss.