The ethical Dilemma of lifestyle change: designing for sustainable schools and sustainable citizenship

Les Ateliers de L’Ethique 4 (1):140-155 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper explores how participation and sustainability are being addressed by architects within the Building Schools for the Future programme in the UK. The intentions promoted by the programme are certainly ambitious, but the ways to fulfil these aims are ill-explored. Simply focusing on providing innovative learning technologies, or indeed teaching young people about physical sustainability features in buildings, will not necessarily teach them the skills they will need to respond to the environmental and social challenges of a rapidly changing world. However, anticipating those skills is one of the most problematic issues of the programme. The involvement of young people in the design of schools is used to suggest empowerment, place-making and to promote social cohesion but this is set against government design literature which advocates for exemplars, standard layouts and best practice, all leading to forms of standardisation. The potentials for tokenistic student involvement and conflict with policy aims are evident. This paper explores two issues: how to foster in young people an ethic towards future generations, and the role of co-design practices in this process. Michael Oakeshott calls teaching the conversation of mankind. In this paper, I look at the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Luce Irigaray to argue that investigating the ethical dilemmas of the programme through critical dialogue with students offers an approach to meeting government objectives, building sustainable schools, and fostering sustainable citizenship.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The very idea of sustainability.Charles V. Blatz - 1992 - Agriculture and Human Values 9 (4):12-28.
Citizenship education and youth participation in democracy.Murray Print - 2007 - British Journal of Educational Studies 55 (3):325-345.
The Camels are Unsustainable.Mary Jane Parmentier & Sharlissa Moore - 2016 - Teaching Ethics 16 (2):207-221.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-08-24

Downloads
0

6 months
0

Historical graph of downloads

Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references