How do you design and strategize for sustainable and resilient development?

1 Assess the context

Before you start designing your project, you need to understand the context of the site, the community, and the market. What are the environmental, social, and economic challenges and opportunities in the area? How can your project contribute to the local goals and needs? How can you leverage the existing assets and resources? Conducting a comprehensive context assessment will help you identify the key issues and stakeholders that will inform your design and strategy.

2 Apply the principles

Sustainable and resilient development is guided by a set of principles that aim to reduce environmental impact, enhance social value, and increase economic viability of your project. These principles include minimizing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing water efficiency and quality, promoting waste reduction and recycling, using renewable and low-impact materials, incorporating green and blue infrastructure, enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services, creating healthy and comfortable indoor and outdoor spaces, fostering social cohesion and diversity, supporting local economy and culture, ensuring affordability and accessibility, integrating disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures, as well as encouraging innovation and learning. These principles can be applied at different scales and stages of your project; from the master plan to the building design, from the construction to the operation, from the financing to the management.

3 Use the tools

Designing and strategizing for sustainable and resilient development can be assisted by using various tools and frameworks that provide guidance, standards, and metrics. Sustainability rating systems, such as LEED, BREEAM, or Green Star, are useful for measuring and certifying the environmental performance of a project. Resilience assessment tools like City Resilience Index, Resilient Design Institute, or RELi can evaluate and improve the resilience of a project. Design tools such as SketchUp, Autodesk, or ArcGIS enable visualization, modeling, and analysis of a project. Stakeholder engagement tools like surveys, workshops, or co-design allow for involving and consulting the community and other relevant actors. Monitoring and evaluation tools such as indicators, dashboards, or audits can help track and report the outcomes and impacts of a project. By utilizing these tools appropriately, you can ensure that your project meets the criteria and expectations of sustainable and resilient development.

4 Learn from the examples

Gaining inspiration and lessons for sustainable and resilient development can be done by looking to successful projects that have achieved this goal. Examples can be found in case studies, such as One Planet Living, EcoDistricts, and 100 Resilient Cities, which demonstrate the best practices of projects worldwide. Awards, like Urban Land Institute Awards, World Architecture Festival Awards, or World Habitat Awards, recognize the excellence and impact of these projects. Additionally, networks like Green Building Councils, International Society of City and Regional Planners, and Global Resilient Cities Network connect professionals and organizations involved in sustainable and resilient development. By learning from these examples, you can gain valuable insights and ideas for your own project.

5 Adapt and improve

Designing and strategizing for sustainable and resilient development is an ongoing, dynamic process that requires adaptation and improvement. To ensure your project remains responsive and accountable to the needs and expectations of stakeholders, partners, and beneficiaries, you should monitor and evaluate it regularly and systematically. Use the tools and indicators you've chosen or developed to identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. Based on the data and evidence collected and analyzed, make the necessary changes and adjustments with the best available knowledge and practices. Adapting and improving your project will help you achieve long-term sustainability and resilience.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?