Last night I went to a lecture at the Witte Museum entitled: "Sustainable Cities, Storylines, and Post-Katrina New Orleans" given by Steven Moore of the Sustainable Design program at UT Austin. Moore spent quite a bit of time delineating between various forms of logic governing the sustainability debate. To wit:
Inductive: moving from specific criteria (cf LEEDS) of successful cities to general principles that could be applied elsewhere
Deductive: moving from general principles (eg. social equity, economic development, and environmental protection) to specific courses of action
Abductive: developing explanatory conclusions, looking locally and forward, not just at the what the experts say, but what the people want through identifying the most compelling storyline in a community about its hopes for the future
My favorite quotes from the evening:
"The value/sustainability of a city cannot be measured only by economic output or natural resources. The value/sustainability of a city can be measured most fully by the people whose stories are embedded within it. " -Steven Moore
"Have you noticed that the people who are most passionate about rebuilding New Orleans comes from its poorest parts? " -John McDermott, Philosophy Professor at A&M
“This is a political disaster that created a natural disaster” -Steven Moore
"Let's just get to work and see what happens." -New Orleans resident and restaurant owner Willy Mae
1 comment:
Cool. I wish I could have gone but I was probably trying to get my ASB students to New Orleans
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