Trying to transform human ecologies with intricate cultural, economic and political dynamics by replicating standardized solutions could bring negative consequences to the nature of our existing cities and its inhabitants. According to Mohsen Mostafavi, the concept of Ecological Urbanism looks at “the fragility of the planet and its resources as an opportunity for speculative design innovations rather than as a form of technical legitimation for promoting conventional solutions”(Ecological Urbanism, 17). In practice, several current projects promote design innovation in a technological and aesthetic matter and show a lack of sensibility towards societies’ culture, history and their continuous transformation.
Sandford Kwinter in the same book, objects that “there can be no ecological thinking that does not place human social destiny at the heart of our posture toward our environmental context” (Ecological Urbanism, 94).
Although the concept of Ecological Urbanism introduces a needed shift of current practices, many “ecological” projects at the moment give partial or superficial solutions to complex problems which fail to improve urbanism in a holistic manner. There should exist a critical understanding of societies, their existing dynamics and relationship with their environment for a project to be called ecological and for it to be able to benefit ecologies in a holistic way.
The current global emergency is not just climatic but also social, and they are both deeply interconnected. When the concept of Ecological Urbanism objects that innovation and design opportunities will arise from current climatic crises and lack of resources, at least in practice, it misses a key point of place and users. These points in fact should be the driving force and inspiration for new technologies and planning to emerge. This is why it is critical that disciplines like urban planning, architecture, ecology, anthropology, sociology, etc come together and share their expertise to find holistic solutions to local urban challenges. These local solutions will later have positive global repercussions, not only on the environment but also in societies at large.
It is also important to consider that the solutions that urban planners and designers are looking for today in new technologies might have already been answered by other disciplines a long time ago. Therefore the solutions might be found in the research and work of other professionals and local understanding and not just in new isolated technologies and new design trends.
Urbanistic innovations should come not only from designers but from local challenges, dynamics, critical research and from experts in each part of the affected ecologies.
Therefore, no one solution fits all.