Resetting the Compass: Principles for Responsible Urban Built Environment Education (PRUE)

Abstract

Several international frameworks supporting sustainable development have come into existence since the Rio Conference in 1992. While recent frameworks developed have included education as a key component of sustainability, these frameworks do not offer a clear direction for university educators to embrace sustainability in their curriculum, and wider engagement with co academic and non academic colleagues, student, campus and wider community to work collaboratively. The principal aim of the paper is to develop and support a collaborative networked platform for university educators, particularly in the Asia Pacific to support and enhance their capacities to develop and promote sustainability education. Despite a number of international treaties to support and accelerate global trends towards sustainable development, we are still a long way from living in a low carbon world. Secondary literature review is undertaken to understand the gaps in current treaties to support a way forward to move towards sustainable futures from an educational perspective. The literature demonstrates there are gaps between intent and action. However, there is a long road to be traversed to translate ideas into reality and even more to mainstream industry knowledge, curricula and capacities to support sustainability outcomes in the built environment. There is still a gap between action and intent with regard to achieving sustainability outcomes in the built environment. These gaps are in real danger of becoming even more wider and deeper, and more urgent and critical as we fail to meet our international targets with regard to low carbon futures. PRME: Principles for Responsible Management Education translated to the built environment as PRUE: Principles for Responsible Urban built environment Education offers an opportunity for supporting sustainability into built environment programs in universities.

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