ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests a constitutional structure for eco-governance that can take into account environmental ethics and presents principles for urban governance and planning. Business administration tools evolved in parallel with military strategies and aim to optimize a firm’s relative position. Resource management agencies have substantial decision-making powers regarding resource conservation/exploitation. Governmental or business-led approaches are limited by the legacy of physical and institutional structures that have perpetuated unequal relationships. The decision-making processes of government virtually exclude any ecological considerations since the underlying structures of governance were conceived before there was an appreciation that the ecological base is the foundation of democracy. The Positive Design Green Optimum is practically the reverse of the Pareto Optimum. It stems from the realization that sustainable design can ‘decouple’ negative environmental impacts from economic growth. Urban design could begin to create biophysical and social sustainability immediately while gradually paying back the investments.
