Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050

Foreword by Sir Terry Farrell¹

In downtown Newcastle, the city where I lived during my teens and twenties, a commemorative pavement inscription honours the 19th century builder and developer Richard Grainger. The words of dedication read ‘The past is my present to your future’, which expresses the city’s gratitude to him as he knew that what we do in the present affects the quality of life for future generations. This quote echoes the 1987 Brundtland Report’s definition of sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland Report, 1987: 16). This far‐reaching report has directed and shaped sustainability agendas and goals for 30 years and is also known as Our Common Future. I feel this subtitle to be increasingly more relevant to all of us living in a globalised and interconnected world, but perhaps for the professionals working within the built environment is it particularly significant. As the report states:

‘Our Common Future is not a prediction of ever increasing environmental decay, poverty, and hardship in an ever more polluted world among ever decreasing resources. We see instead the possibility for a new era of economic growth, one that must be based on policies that sustain and expand the environmental resource base. And we believe such growth to be absolutely essential to relieve the great poverty that is deepening in much of the developing world.’ ...