Education and Research - Evaluating Sustainable Development in the Built Environment - page 206

the key areas for investigation. It has provided a comprehensive
structure which goes beyond mere lists of indicators to approach the
subject. It has provided a list of the more common techniques that can
be applied to measure events and enable informed decision-making
(even though it recognises their shortcomings) and it has suggested
ways in which management may address the issue. Each of these matters
requires substantial further investigation and there are many research-
ers across the world who are undertaking such studies. Is this enough?
Of course, these studies are of benefit and will contribute significantly
to what might evolve in the future. Scenario planning will also help
'try out', albeit in a limited way, what the future might be like. Foresight
studies may help prepare for or influence the future and all models of
all types may warn us of future impending problems. There are some
technologies that will influence us in a way that we will not have seen
before. It could be argued that a zero carbon energy policy might
change many things. The types of energy source would change, creat-
ing a whole new infrastructure of manufacture and delivery. Fuel cell
technology, thought to offer enormous potential, is still in its compara-
tive infancy and we do not know whether it will be applicable beyond
the local environment. Using existing technologies, the Three Gorges
Dam in China is a new infrastructure designed to supply a large
proportion of China's future energy need as the country continues with
its economic growth. Developing hydroelectric power is relatively
'green'. However, up to 2 million people have been 'displaced' in order
for the dam to be built, creating a reservoir 450 miles long. For those
who are dependent on them, these technologies will have a major
impact on the way they behave and their built environment. They may
make them more or less vulnerable in the future, which in turn may
instigate social behaviour related to self-protection. Will another
country use the vulnerability of the dam, for example, to attack or place
pressure on the country and its policies? The 'community' may well
change its behaviour to make it less sustainable in the long term from
the perspective of most sustainability models.
Perhaps the biggest unknown is the influence of information
technology on the way we behave. We have never faced such an infor-
mation explosion before. We do not know how we will react in the long
term and we do not know what the increased connectivity between
humans, and between humans and machines, will do to what humans
expect from the built environment. At the moment there is some
evidence that those engaged in providing information technologies and
their content are binding themselves together in conclaves around the
world such as Seattle or Dubai. This is counter-intuitive as most predic-
tions have suggested that geography is no longer a barrier for work, but
here we see the big players apparently reaping major benefits from
being geographically close to each other while encouraging the rest of
us to work apart! This may be a temporary situation, but who knows?