Hedonistic Sustainability

Hedonistic Sustainability

Hedonistic Sustainability [1], this concept carved by architect Bjarke Ingels in 2009 in the book Yes is more can provide very interesting reflections.

Hedonistic means to engage in the pursuit of pleasure [2], and sustainability means, well, a lot of things nowadays, but according to the UN, it means, to be able to provide a “decent standard of living for everyone today without compromising the needs of future generations”[3]. However, these terms are hardly seem together.

Usually the way to achieve a sustainable future is interpreted as compromising our lifestyle to become sustainable [4]. Many initiatives follow this interpretations, focusing on what can we stop doing in become more sustainable, a sort of punishment to achieve something better. However, this logic does not work very well; it is hard to compromise the present thinking about the future.

And that’s where the hedonistic approach comes, by making sustainability interesting.

People are curious, attracted to do things that bring them something back, having fun, or learning for example. Initiatives like the D-exto that bring interactive sustainable activities focusing of public participation, are an example of how these two terms can and should coexist.

I believe that, to achieve a sustainable future, we should not try to focus on the things we have to stop doing, but to create alternatives to those, which have the same advantages, or even more, but that are designed to be sustainable.

[1] Ingels, Bjarke, et al. Yes is more: an archicomic on architectural evolution. 2009.

[2] Oxford Dictionary. Hedonistic. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hedonistic

[3] UN (United Nations). What is sustainability?https://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/sustainability.shtml

[4] Ingels, Bjarke. Hedonistic Sustainability. May 2011. https://www.ted.com/talks/bjarke_ingels_hedonistic_sustainability