ABSTRACT
Land-use planning is central to a sustainable future. Land-use decisions change the environment for all time and are oen not ecologically reversible. is is partly because traditional planning methods and practices did not engage seriously with sustainability.1 Planning was initially instituted to protect public health and hygiene by, in eect, replacing nature with engineering infrastructure. Over time, planning methods evolved that channel us into predicting problems and choosing pathways or prototypes – none of which have been sustainable. ‘Predicting’ usually means projecting current trends. ‘Choosing’ usually means eliminating alternatives among presently available options. e concept of intergenerational equity has no meaning if development decisions lock future generations into unsustainable living patterns. e alternative, we have said, is ‘designing’ to expand future options. Given the ongoing reduction of natural carrying capacity, urban development must be re-designed to support, catalyse and re-generate the region. We can do this through reversible, adaptable, diverse Positive Development, which provides for ‘ecological infrastructure’ at the building, community and regional scales. However, this also requires new planning methods, which are the subject of this chapter.
