Design principles for ecological engineering

Abstract

The emerging discipline of ecological engineering is a response to the growing need for engineering practice to provide for human welfare while at the same time protecting the natural environment from which goods and services are drawn. It recognizes that humanity is inseparable from and dependent on natural systems, and that the growing worldwide population and consumption have damaged, and will increasingly stress, global ecosystems. Ecological engineering is the design of sustainable systems, consistent with ecological principles, which integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both. It recognizes the relationship of organisms (including humans) with their environment and the constraints on design imposed by the complexity, variability and uncertainty inherent to natural systems. Successful ecological engineering will require a design methodology consistent with, if not based on, ecological principles. We identify five design principles to guide those practicing ecological engineering. The principles are: (1) design consistent with ecological principles, (2) design for site-specific context, (3) maintain the independence of design functional requirements, (4) design for efficiency in energy and information, and (5) acknowledge the values and purposes that motivate design.