While the economics is concerned with making choices in the wake of scarcities and attempts to answer the three fundamental questions of what goods and services are to be produced, how to produce these goods and services and for whom. Being part of the agents for change and ensuring sustainability, Architects have a vital role in designing buildings, structures and infrastructure with an objective to ensure sustainability, assuring welfare of future generations, how to make such designs and for whom to make.
In the quest for achieving growth and material development, we tend to ignore human conscience. We find the dichotomy in every institution. We fail to analyze why contrasting entities like super rich and extremely poor exist in the same place, why palatial structures and slums co-exist. We fail to introspect as to whom are we working for and what is the role and responsibility of Architects. Our greed has led to prosperity for a few at the cost of poverty to many and the destruction of environment endangering the future generations.
While indicators of economic development are analyzed in terms of Gross National Product, GDP, per capita income, etc. do they really indicate happiness, quality of life, social cohesion and sustenance of healthier institutions? Do they address the issues of unhappiness arising out of self-centered approaches, breakage of families, enhanced radicalism in the societies, attraction towards terrorist tendencies, etc.? We equate success with monetary gain and Governments across the world have given people the incentive to be greedy.
I think, we Architects, more than others, need to approach the issue by being righteous. It is the one word solution to most of the problems afflicting the human species and all life on Earth. To borrow the tag line of an advertisement of a wrist watch, we need to design what is to be seen and design what is not to be seen. We need to design the buildings in a holistic manner, which will enhance social interaction, among all cross-sections of people, improve understanding and mutual trust, far different from ghettos and silos. The designs should encompass the infrastructure, protect the environment and improve the mobility. The incentive for such an approach will be indirect in the form of spillover effect, the spread of such infrastructure, as economists would call it, the positive externality of sustainable environment.
As Architects we need to realize our responsibility to balance our approaches that in the quest of making the projects viable for the developers we also take care of the social welfare and make sure that the growth is all inclusive, covering every one in the society. The profitability of few should not be a reason for exploitation of less privileged. Intuitions and fast thinking will have their seeds in ingrained conscientious sense of responsibility. Let us focus on our individual righteousness to make our profession as a source of development and happiness to one and all.