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Enquiry by Design: an inter-disciplinary planning and design tool that ensures
a sophisticated iteration between a wide range of factors in planning and
place-making. It enables trade-offs between the competing objectives facing any significant new development. Environmental issues and concerns are weighed against social and economic objectives, good urbanism and design is mapped out and costed, 'whole life' issues are explored and core values and principles are drawn out to ensure the best possible foundations for a new community.
Environmental footprinting: every action has some impact upon the immediate and more distant environment. Environmental footprinting seeks to measure these impacts. Footprinting provides basic quantitative data which is useful for both awareness-raising and policy making. Data from one housing association or community can be compared to national, regional and sectoral norms and targets.
A housing association might have a footprint 40% bigger than a neighbouring association and /or the average for the social housing sector even without taking account of the residents' lifestyles. More detailed analyses can then be designed to discover precisely why this is and to specify the options for addressing this. Differences in footprint size between otherwise comparable communities or associations may or may not cause concern but footprinting can help to bring focus and discipline to environmental planning and make policy and investment choices more explicit and transparent.
Environmental sustainability: this is the branch of sustainability that is concerned with the health of nature. Since the welfare of people and communities depends ultimately on the health of nature it is a fundamentally important concept.
Greenhouse gases and climate change: greenhouse gases are those, like CO2 and methane, that cause climate change through the 'greenhouse effect'. The overall climatic effect is a heating of the earth's atmosphere with diverse local effects. The Government recently declared its intention to act to ensure UK CO2 emissions are reduced by 60% by 2050.
Living bridges: bridges lined with buildings, shops and workplaces, which are a destination in themselves rather than just places to cross a river, such as Pultney Bridge in Bath and Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
One planet living: the Living Planet Report (WWF and UNEP, 2003) argues that in the UK we currently live a 'three planet lifestyle' – if everyone in the world were to consume resources and produce waste as we do, three planets would be needed to sustain humankind. Therefore, for true sustainability we need to find ways of living that only require one planet to support us.
Priority Area for Economic Regeneration: The Priority Areas for Regeneration are defined by Regional Planning Guidance for East Anglia (RPG9) to be Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Wisbech, the remote rural areas [of East Anglia], and the inner urban areas of Ipswich, King's Lynn, Norwich and Peterborough.
Within these areas actions and investment are to be concentrated in order to facilitate economic development based upon an improved transport network and enhancement of the environment.
Regeneration: to bring new or more vigorous life to an area or institution; to regrow.
Regional Planning Guidance: Regional Planning Guidance, often abbreviated
to RPG, is a statement of Government planning policy for a particular region. The East of England is presently covered by several RPG, comprising RPG 6 - East Anglia; RPG9 (part)-South East; and RPG 9A (part) - Thames Gateway. The primary purpose of RPG is to provide a framework for the preparation of development plans within the region. RPG set out the broad location and scale of new employment and housing development for up to 20 years ahead together with a range of strategic policies dealing with matters such as transportation, environmental protection, services and waste disposal, energy, tourism and recreation.
Regional Spatial Strategy: Regional Spatial Strategy, often abbreviated to RSS, is a statement of Government planning policy for a particular region. RSS were introduced by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and are intended to replace Regional Planning Guidance. Transitional provisions in the Act allow RPG to be used as RSS until a revised document has been prepared. In the East of England region, the relevant draft RSS is the emerging draft East of England Plan. RSS are intended to provide the framework for the preparation of development plans. They will set out the broad location and scale of new employment and housing development for up to 20 years ahead together with a range of strategic policies dealing with matters such as transportation, environmental resources, services and
waste disposal, energy, tourism and recreation.
Stakeholder: a person or organisation with an interest or concern in something.
Sustain / sustainable: to cause to continue or be prolonged for an extended period; to be able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
Sustainability: this term is often used as a proxy or shorthand for sustainable development. Some prefer it because it is not conjoined or necessarily associated with 'development', which can be taken to mean growth for its own sake.
Sustainable community: a community is a group of people, connected by a
sense of belonging to one another and to a place. A sustainable community is
one which encourages social and cultural diversity and ways of work, pleasure
and education that preserve the health of people and nature both locally and
globally. (See 'Sustainable Communities – building for the future', ODPM 2003).
Sustainable development: this is a process to 'ensure quality of life
for all now and for future generations'. It seeks to ensure that social objectives are met in an environmentally benign way and at the optimum long term economic cost. The term is often used in connection with a whole system – i.e. 'this economy, region or organisation is being developed sustainably'. It helps us to think about the wider costs and benefits of every choice we make – the total impact upon the community, economy and the environment. It implies growth, but is more concerned with the qualitative aspects of growth and change rather than the quantitative.
Sustainable housing: strictly speaking there is no such thing as a sustainable house. However, the term 'sustainable home' can be useful shorthand if not taken too literally. But outside isolated areas and specialised research and demonstration projects it is very difficult and typically inefficient to seek to build one-off stand alone sustainable homes. In contrast, the environmental, economic and social economies of scale from building communities of homes and 'places' are both widespread and valuable. Massing buildings for insulation, a greater intensity of development for community services such as shops, health centres, public transport routes and nodes, and shared energy, water and waste services such as combined heat and power, reed beds and biological sewage treatment plants all make the case for prioritising groups of homes and whole communities when planning and designing for sustainability.
Sustainable regeneration: literally means a process of regeneration that will develop a community that has the qualities and character to endure. The key question is, 'what are the chief qualities of regenerative processes that engender sustainability?' Typically they are to do with: strengthening the participation of local people in the key decisions and everyday working of their community; action to diversify and reinforce the local economy; the creation of a place that has the intrinsic physical qualities of beauty and utility for a community to wish to continue living there, and the material strength and versatility in its plan and fabric to make this possible. Additionally and crucially, given environmental imperatives, the regenerative process should have no net deleterious effects on the environment. Ideally, it should put back at least that which it takes from the environment.
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