The Ethics of Brick: Giving priority to social equity can...

Anthony McInneny

Perspective
The Ethics of Brick
Giving priority to social equity can lead to surprising conclusions that subvert some of the widely accepted principles of green design.

By Lance Hosey
Posted May 16, 2005

When Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize last fall, it signaled a new direction for environmentalists. As leader of Africa's Green Belt Movement, Maathai has fought tirelessly to empower women and better the environment for three decades, so by any standard she deserves the award. But her win was also historic. As the Nobel committee's chair observed, "This is the first time the environment sets the agenda for the Nobel Peace Prize, and we have added a new dimension to peace."

For many designers this "new dimension" is not new, since the primary aim of sustainability--its so-called "triple bottom line"--is to maximize ecological, economic, and social value. Yet despite this goal, the building industry's green standards typically emphasize the first two values over the third. So how can designers champion social justice? One way is to reorient architects' traditional focus on wealthy clientele by embracing neglected or disadvantaged communities, a group Bryan Bell of Design Corps calls "the 98 percent": people who rarely commission or even encounter good design. Another method is through advocacy, which Cameron Sinclair and Architecture for Humanity support by sponsoring design competitions for housing and health clinics in Africa and other developing regions. Earlier this year, architects rushed to provide temporary shelter for survivors of the Asian tsunami.
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