Honesty. Forthrightness. Candor.
Just call it like it is. Is that too much to ask?
I suppose it’s just human nature—a form of self-preservation—to use popular ideas to benefit oneself. I’m not much of a businessperson or economic genius of any sort, but I do understand that surely this is an important undercurrent in moneymaking business models. Capitalize on trends—sounds like a smart enough idea.
However, it disturbs me deeply to see ideas that were rooted in benevolence become mutated into marketing ploys, preying upon the emotions of well-intentioned people.
At this stage in the game, it is no longer even worth discussing whether or not architecture should be designed and built in the most ecologically responsible way. It is pretty much a given at this point. But where ideas, ideals, and ethics diverge is in the practical application of this theory—i.e. how we execute the plan.
I’m educated as a designer, so I tend to approach most topics as I would a design problem. Any designer worth their salt will tell you that a good design is hardly possible without a solid driving concept. The concept is like the backbone, the foundation. It gets you through the dark and stormy times when you want to go all willy-nilly and get hung up on the details. Don’t get me wrong; details matter, but concept must come first. Without a concept that is evident and ever flowing throughout a design, the details really aren’t effective.
So when I read the Vision of The Greenville Project, a new shopping mall developer with Eva Longoria Parker as one of its partners, I think about the sustainability concept and I get a little green, as in feeling a bit greenwashed. The fact that we have had to coin the term greenwashing to explain the practice of expressing “unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue” indicates to me that the well-intentioned sustainability and green building movements have gone way off track.
My biggest question is this: Can a shopping mall truly be sustainable?
I don’t doubt that one shopping mall can be better or worse than another as far as its environmental impact goes. But isn’t it a bit of an oxymoron to claim that a project that inherently feeds the consumerism monster is doing a good deed for the environment?
By the sounds of GreenVille’s Vision, one would think they really are going to save the polar bears by building shopping malls:
“It was probably the video of a polar bear drowning from exhaustion because there is not enough ice left to rest on. Yes, that was enough. Enough to first devastate us, then enrage us, and ultimately motivate us to want to take a stand.”
Really?!?!
There are a few things about GreenVille’s promotional material that I take umbrage with, and this is one of them. How does building a shopping mall do anything to positively affect the melting ice caps? If anything, it does just the opposite.
Yes, there are better and worse ways of building. And yes, GreenVille seems intent on employing certain “green” standards, such as utilizing alternative energy sources, conserving water, and encouraging patrons to use public or other alternative modes of transportation. I would agree that these steps are better choices than some others GreenVille could make. But I can’t get behind the concept that building any kind of shopping mall is going to save polar bears from drowning. Or add any positive ecological impact for that matter. It could be done in worse ways, but do GreenVille’s choices really merit such virtuous talk?
It’s not that I believe we should all have the same ideals, passions, or ethics. I don’t even want that; it would make for quite a boring world. But I do believe in calling it like it is. If you want to be a shopping mall developer—fine. Just don’t call it sustainable. There is nothing about our current consumer behavior that is truly sustainable. And to insinuate that a shopping mall is going to save the Earth from certain disaster is rather insulting to the intelligence of the public at large.
And maybe I’m being too much of a wordsmith here, but when a company’s tag line combines the words “hip” and “sustainable,” this says to me, “Sustainability is hip. Let’s profit from it.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just be honest, please.
Defy Rules 