Sustainability in the Built Environment

The Principles of Sustainability

Objective: Many ideas and concepts regarding sustainability have been presented and discussed in this class. All of our information so far has come from readings from the class texts, portions of texts from other authors and other documents provided for you. The objective of this assignment is for you to narrow the scope of your inquiry to one particular question presented below, to conduct basic independent inquiry and research on the question, and to present your own written analysis and conclusions.

Topics: Students will write a minimum of 2000 words on any one of the following topics:

1. McLennan says that sustainable design is a “…design philosophy that seeks to maximize the quality of the built environment, while minimizing or eliminating negative impact to the natural environment”. Examine this definition and present its strengths and weaknesses.

2. The idea of “place” in sustainable design is important to McDonough, McLennan and others. Examine the role of “place” in sustainable design, discuss your findings and present your views.

3. Why is life cycle analysis such an important component of sustainable design? What is life cycle analysis? How should it be appropriately applied in sound ecological design?

4. Do the principles of sustainability imply a moral obligation? Explore this question and present your findings regarding the ethical implications of sustainability.

5. Penn and others say that the root of our ecological problems today is the result of our evolutionary past. Examine the “Darwinian Ecology” and discuss present its merits or lack thereof.

Writing: The emphasis of this assignment is on analysis and not description. To properly inform your readers, you should plan to write appropriate amounts of pertinent background to identify the problem(s) or topics being examined; however, the majority of your paper should analyze the information and synthesize or conceptualize reasoned solutions and/or findings.

This paper should not consist of unsupported opinions; it is necessary to cite scholarly evidence to support your ideas and your writing. Please take care not to use lengthy quotations; paraphrasing or summarizing another author’s ideas is more often acceptable but in-text citations should be used whenever this is done. Unsubstantiated claims and lack of evidence will adversely affect the quality of your writing and your score for the paper.

Information Literacy: You may use our class text and other assigned readings provided in class as beginning points for your research, however, in addition to these, you should utilize and cite a minimum of at least 4 additional references for your paper. These references will be independently
CM 422, Paper 2, Page 1

located by the student. The Consortium Library has very good online academic research resource databases and excellent search capability for books, journal articles and other publications.

Formatting: Papers should be formatted in the APA style. There are numerous guides published that will help you with the APA formatting system. If you do not have access to an APA guidebook please utilize online sources that are available through the following link on the Consortium Library website:
http://consortiumlibrary.org/research/guides/writing/bibliographies.php