As architects it is important to understant that architecture is made by people, for people. Regardless a lot of paralell interests, at the end, the most important thing is the sensations and the feelings that these architectures can produce in the users. Its all about the atmospheres that architecture produces in our lifes, and this atmospheres dont have borders. Its important analyze human surroundings and how human needs and desires can reflect in the architecture. In this analysys we cant think in a buiding as a single element, but as a component in a net of interactions in a city.
The concept of quality of life and happiness many time is related a economical things, and sustentability is faced like something not economical and as a subtracter of quality of life, using less power and taking less fun, sacrificing something in our lifes to save the planet. We need to keep in mind that sustainability is not a burden, but that a sustainable city in fact can improve our quality of life, and we need to think in ways to chage the point of view of the people.
First of all we need to understand that architecture is not made just by architects, but it needs a multidisciplinary aproach. Is also important a change in the way of thinking, a city can be economically profitable as well as environmentally sustainable. Stop thinking about buildings as structures and start thinking about them as ecosystems. Is usual people looks for immediate and ponctual results, but if we think is the city like ecosystems we will start to see that interrelated results a longo prazo everybody can have benefits, the users, the companies and the planet.