Building voluntary sustainability : how urban design can promote care for ecological systems

Human behavior is, in aggregate present state, unsustainable by the ecosystem of the earth. This thesis develops a behavior change model of how societies can move from unsustainable to sustainable behavior, and, because behavior is in large part a result of personal conviction, the factors that result in voluntary behavior change towards more environmentally sustainable behavior. The three key factors that trigger a desire to behave sustainably are intellectual understanding of ecosystems, engagement with ecosystems, and feedback on personal ecosystem impacts. Urban design is a key element in how the ecosystem is presented and culturally interpreted, and this thesis examines how urban design can be used to promote care for the ecosystem by offering experiences that provide the factors of behavior change. Several example cases are provided, as well as an examination of how we sense natural systems and design suggestions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Markel, Christina Paige Buist

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brent Ryan.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59579

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/59579