Special Issue Journal of Sustainability Science and Studies

Special Issue 1, December 2009

Article Number: 01

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Sustainability of space in architecture and the built form

F.N. Salim

Pages 2-7

Abstract—Through the argument of sustainability, traditional and local architecture have found their way back in face with the more forceful global iconic and flashy architecture that is attached to global identity and economy. Hence, sustainability is increasingly becoming engaged in the struggle between the local and global viewpoints. It can be found in almost all dialectical forces that shape globalization and those that resist authentic local identities. However, the most striking changes that globalization has brought is a change to how we live, which is the most related question to architecture and the built form. Today, most people in the world cannot live without a TV or a radio, which represent the most effective channels of flow of information. Same can be said about the internet. The flow of information induced the flow of our inner space, which can no longer be thought of as internally controlled, or relating only to oneself and the family or any particular society. Our inner space is melting into the air with little or no help from the traditional family or traditional society. Architecture should be aware of such changes and the dilemma it creates for the occupation of space. The paper discusses the sustainability of architecture space to raise questions about the global phenomenon of flows in comparison to some traditional considerations that are concerned with how we use to live and how we are living or we ought to live.

Keywords—cultural transformation, mobility, public spaces sustainability.