Defining Progress Toward Sustainability

New assessment tool has been effectively used in pre-design programming, neighborhood and regional assessments, post-occupancy evaluations of industrial buildings, and comparative analysis of similar buildings

Sustainability has become part of our collective world view in recent years. As such, a new map is needed to navigate the dynamics of change in the making of cities, buildings, and products.

Sustainometrics represents a way to describe the interconnectedness of five domains of human activity -- environmental, socio-cultural, technological, economics, and public policy -- and their interplay with regard to achieving the goals of sustainability.

Taken together, the five domains of sustainometrics can guide holistic solutions balancing human needs with the depletion of natural resources.

In their new book Sustainometrics, authors W. Cecil Steward and Sharon Kuska present a method to define progress toward sustainability goals in the form of a new assessment tool called EcoSTEP. EcoSTEP can be applied at any scale of design, planning, or sustainability problem-solving. This method has been effectively used in pre-design programming, neighborhood and regional assessments, post-occupancy evaluations of industrial buildings, and comparative analysis of similar buildings.

Altogether, the process will result in better, conservation-based decisions and the avoidance of many unintended consequences suffered through past trials and errors of judgment about the livable conditions we all desire.

About the Authors

W. Cecil Steward is a professor and dean emeritus of the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska, where he served as dean for 27 years. In 1996, he founded the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, where he currently serves as president and CEO.

Sharon Kuska is a professor and former associate dean in the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is vice president of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities. She is a professional engineer and a LEED Accredited Professional.

About Sustainometrics

Authors: W. Cecil Steward & Sharon Kuska
Publisher: Greenway Communications LLC
Number of pages: 144
Binding: Paperback
Published: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9846136-5-6
Cover price: $39.95
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