Restorative Human Settlements

Contrary to some widely held conventions among architects, developers and public sector planners, people do not live, work and thrive in buildings. There is ample sociological evidence that as a species, like all other species, humans thrive only in sustainable habitats. Put another way, we live and work in community and thrive only when those communities or habitats enable individuals to be self-actualized according Maslow’s hierarchy. Communities in which there has been long term disinvestment seldom provide the infrastructure to support self-actualization. Simply building more housing, ie creating more shelter at the bottom of the pyramid is often how many in the public and private sector business of building measure success. But its not enough!

The correction to the historically disinvested community is the creation of “Restorative Human Settlement”. This restoration requires first, before we design building or accumulating capital, that we understand transformation is required along five critical spheres of influence in no particular order: Economic; Environmental; Social; Cultural and Opportunity Structures.

For architects, engineers, planners, investors, public officials and ultimately for the consumers who will rent, or purchase in these reconsidered communities, there is a need to rethink our collective ethical relationship with others who we may know, may possibly know at some point or may, perhaps never know.

Spheres of Influence

 Typically, humans through systems of socialization, with the exceptions of sociopaths, have developed either through religion or culture, ethical constraints for how we navigate relationships between those we know and those who we don’t know or will never know. Those restraints have typically been also applied to future generations. That is, we want our children, grandchildren and generations of our genetic strain going forward to have a better world , or a better chance at a better something than we had. It’s the reason people leave trusts, and wills, and invest in compassion and in education for their children. Its why they nourish their birth or adopted children instead of letting them starve to death. But what about those we don’t know or who we may never know? What about those “others” whose race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender, nationality, gender orientation or temporal existence is other than our own. It is through this tendency of othering that we fail to create communities that have the same potential for self-actualizations as do the communities of our preference offer. Fundamentally our work is intended to demonstrate that we can, create communities that preserve environmental resources, provide economic opportunities and opportunity structures in ways that strengthen the social fabric and honor the cultures of people whom we may never know.

Though the particular approach will vary in every community, over time, there are these nine underlying principles we have observed for creating restorative human settlements that are equitable and resilient and serve as guide posts for our work.

Carlton’s Nine Principles for Creating Equitable and Resilient Communities™

1.    Primum Non Nocere First Do No Harm! Ubuntu (I am because you are and you are because we are) Be thoughtful about any considered intervention because we are all joined by our humanity. Evaluate possible impacts and potential for harm. Always consider alternatives. Beyond environmental impact assessments, make no intervention which destroys fabric without a clear-cut plan and strategy for replacing it with better fabric. Make no intervention that leaves the existing community stakeholders with fewer financial, physical, environmental and human capital assets than before the intervention was made. Hoping for the best is neither a plan or a strategy, but is nearly a guaranteed method of doing harm.

2.    Value Financial Capital; Human Capital; Environmental Capital and Incorporate Returns on Each in All Solutions All interventions should be evaluated in terms of the investment returns on Financial Capital, Human Capital, & Environmental Capital. All investment interventions should strive to provide returns on each. Investments in Arts & Culture are as important as investments in education, job training, and entrepreneurship when we consider Human Capital Investments & Returns. Environmental Capital investments that preserve resources for future generations are as important as IRR on financial capital. A single focus on short term financial returns often delivers un-sustainable results with little human benefit.

3.    Use More Waste than We Create Believing that we can consume resources infinitely in a world in which resources are finite, is supported neither by physical, economic or social science. Interventions in disinvested communities should strive toward closed loop process where there is no waste, no Physical waste; no Financial Waste; No waste of Environmental Resources and no waste of Human Resources. Everything and everyone needs to be put back in the loop to provide more opportunity for more and more people consuming less and less resources.

4.    Generate More Energy Than We Use Reduce energy consumption and increase renewable energy production.

5.    Create More Wealth Than We Consume Create wealth for investors; for long term community stakeholders, for new stakeholders in ways that reflect a commitment to equity.

6.    Include More People Than We Exclude-Deconstruct Manmade Social Barriers Don’t create exclusive communities that bar or don’t provide the provisions for welcoming and embracing the “other”. Avoid developments that are exclusive to any particular populations. Create buildings that look both inward and outward in their approach to inclusion.

7.    Don’t Export Capital from Underserved Communities As you develop, create opportunity structures that keep financial resources in disinvested communities. Create local jobs and businesses, use local labor and materials and consider strategies to keep capital turning over in local communities longer while growing capacity. Incorporate strategies to develop the human capital of long term stakeholders. Export only finished product in which the value added is created in the community. Don’t export people whose full human potential has not been reached because of community disinvestment in favor of importing new people whose native communities have served to develop their human potential.

8.    Create Place that Enables Beneficial Human Activity Don’t simply build buildings but make places that stimulate human creativity, co-engagement and the opportunity to be self-actualized without being forced to leave the community in order to “do better”.

9.   Centricity Should Be a Primary Focus of All Community Investment There are many well defined classical definitions of the word centricity: pertaining to or situated at the center; central. In Anatomy-Physiology: pertaining to or originating at a nerve center. The quality or state of being centric, a position of central prominence or importance. Centricity is the broad concept that links our need to have physical proximity to others who offer the goods services, comfort and care that we are incapable of offering to ourselves without the help of others. Proximity to economic and cultural resources must be both physical and virtual to create communities that are competitive in the global economies of the 21st century. Compact, interdependent, virtual digital and multimodal physical infrastructure to enhance mobility are minimum requirements for communities which enable human community to be self-actualized in the 21st Century.