Question

I am sure we know the meaning of “utopia”, but what does it mean relative to sustainable development? Was Rob Hopkins too much of an idealist when he initiated the “Transitioning Town” movement in 2005? Why or why not?

Are we currently using the concept of “Environmental Design” as many of our cities and towns expand and contract? If so, provide some examples.

Cite your answer

Answer 1

answer 1- A utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. Utopia is a representation of an ideal world where all troubles and wrongs of the present society have been solved and rectified. Sustainable development can be classified as one example of a utopian vision. The concept of sustainable development describes a society that is economically prosperous, environmentally protected and socially equitable, the governance of which involves all concerned groups on the basis of shared principles. sustainable development should represent a radical change in the paradigm, the political vision and also in practices.

Yes, Rob Hopkins was too much of an idealist when he initiated the "TranstioningTown" movement in 2005. The transition is a movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world. The Transition vision is of a move towards self- sufficiency at the local level, in food, energy and much else, but the specifics of what "getting it right" might look like were never handed down. When the Transition movement started, it was driven by green politics, and its biggest critics have tended to be deep greens.

According to Rob Hopkins, the Transition Movement are based on four key assumptions:

It is inevitable that we will experience life with dramatically lowered energy consumption, and it's better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.

Our settlements and communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany peak oil.

We have to act collectively, and we have to act now.

By unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our energy descent, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching the biological limits of our planet (Hopkins, 2008, p.136)

Answer 2- yes, we are using the concept of "Environmental Design". Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings or products. Environmental design can also refer to the applied arts and science dealing with creating the human-designed environmental. These fields include architecture, geography, urban planning, landscape architecture, and interior design. In terms of a larger scope, an environmental design has implications for the industrial design of products: innovative automobiles, wind-electricity generators, solar-electric equipment, and other kinds of equipment could serve as examples. Currently, the term has expanded to apply to ecological and sustainability.

Examples of the environmental design process include the use of roadway noise computer models in the design of noise barriers and use of roadway air dispersion models in analyzing and designing urban highways. Designers consciously working within this more recent framework of philosophy and practice seek a blending of nature and technology, regarding ecology as the basis for design.

Specific examples of large-scale environmental design projects include:

• Boston Transportation Planning Review

• Metropolitan Portland, Oregon light rail system

• BART- Bay Area Rapid Transit System Daly city Turn-back project and airport extension.