Focus area
Designing sustainable communities for real lives
Sustainability is measured in the daily experience of the people who live there.
Start with routines
Communities work when they support ordinary days: getting to school and work, finding shade, meeting neighbours, managing water and power. Design should begin with those routines rather than with images.
Climate-responsive by default
Orientation, cross-ventilation, overhangs and planting are long-standing tools. Combined with suitable materials, they reduce reliance on mechanical cooling and make homes more resilient.
Partnership over isolation
No single organisation delivers a community. Developers, manufacturers, government, financiers and residents each hold part of the solution, and the best outcomes come from aligning them early.
A summary of a focus area for discussion; not a dated or published article.