Lesson 6 - Sustainability Planning

Question 1

Sustainable development

Answer 1

is defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that the present and future population’s needs can be met. Sustainability includes environmental, social, and economic components.

Question 2

Triple bottom line

Answer 2

was first coined in 1994 by John Elkington, his argument was that companies should be preparing three different bottom lines, corporate profit, people, and planet. These three P’s aim to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of the corporation over a period of time.

Question 3

Carrying capacity

Answer 3

is a biological concept indicating the maximum population size of a species that could be sustained in perpetuity within the environment, given the availability of food, water, habitat etc. The concept of carrying capacity is used in city planning to discuss the maximum population and employment that could be carried within a particular community. This can relate to the amount of land available for development, infrastructure capacity etc. The term carrying capacity was first used in 1845 by the then US Secretary of State James Buchanan. Ian McHarg wrote about the concept of carrying capacity in his book Design with Nature.