Sustainometrics - Measuring Sustainability: Design, Planning, and Public Adminstration for Sustainable Living

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 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.