Such a complex matter like Sustainable Integrated Development cannot be discussed in just a few lines, but it is indeed possible to highlight some of its central groundings, at the core of S.I.D. Consulting approach
Sustainability is a widely used concept, grounded on Economy, Environment and Society. None of them has a predominant role. Our approach is based on those equally important milestones. As a consequence, we foster that a number of different specialists, with different backgrounds, work on projects, having overlapping roles. Specialists who have the same importance within the project. Such a strategy is aimed at tackling the predominance of the technical approach, which is, as a matter of fact, one of the major problems spatial planning has been facing in the last 50 years. It is therefore necessary to overcome such an approach, otherwise cities will dramatically contribute in the worsening of peoples' lives.
Integrated in our strategy means both to take advantage of available resources (structural and infrastructural, of course, but also of different origin, such as cultural and economical) and to strategically plan the development of a city considering structural and infrastructural projects not only simultaneously, but functional to each other.
Development doesn't mean growth. There is, actually, a lot of confusion between the words “growth” and “development”. The first term is quantitative, the second qualitative. Development is the outcome of a different (more intelligent, and more appropriate to a given socio-economic and historical situation) use of current available (not only economical) resources, for bettering current situation. Efficiency, for instance, is an outcome of an organisational and/or technological development. A growth, on the contrary, is just the numeric incrementation of the status quo. In fact, development may also occur with a zero growth, or even in case of economic decline. We shouldn’t dare to forget that it is a development that improves the human condition, not a growth. This is the reason why it would be not surprising at all to have a development together with a de-growth. Or better, a development should naturally lead to a de-growth in economical resource usage. Development is a synonym of progress and civilization, and a true human prerogative.
Sustainability is a widely used concept, grounded on Economy, Environment and Society. None of them has a predominant role. Our approach is based on those equally important milestones. As a consequence, we foster that a number of different specialists, with different backgrounds, work on projects, having overlapping roles. Specialists who have the same importance within the project. Such a strategy is aimed at tackling the predominance of the technical approach, which is, as a matter of fact, one of the major problems spatial planning has been facing in the last 50 years. It is therefore necessary to overcome such an approach, otherwise cities will dramatically contribute in the worsening of peoples' lives.
Integrated in our strategy means both to take advantage of available resources (structural and infrastructural, of course, but also of different origin, such as cultural and economical) and to strategically plan the development of a city considering structural and infrastructural projects not only simultaneously, but functional to each other.
Development doesn't mean growth. There is, actually, a lot of confusion between the words “growth” and “development”. The first term is quantitative, the second qualitative. Development is the outcome of a different (more intelligent, and more appropriate to a given socio-economic and historical situation) use of current available (not only economical) resources, for bettering current situation. Efficiency, for instance, is an outcome of an organisational and/or technological development. A growth, on the contrary, is just the numeric incrementation of the status quo. In fact, development may also occur with a zero growth, or even in case of economic decline. We shouldn’t dare to forget that it is a development that improves the human condition, not a growth. This is the reason why it would be not surprising at all to have a development together with a de-growth. Or better, a development should naturally lead to a de-growth in economical resource usage. Development is a synonym of progress and civilization, and a true human prerogative.