Building-centred community development as a method to promote social, environmental, and economic sustainability

Current community development programs in the United States and other countries consist primarily of planning and zoning regulations that focus on economic and population growth. In general, these measures have not resulted in the development of sustainable communities. This paper describes an effort to focus on a building-centred community development process. Building-centred community development utilizes the architecture, systems engineering, and materials that make up buildings as a strategy to promote socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable communities. The development of this solution is based on a five-year evolution of experimentation and analysis by the American Indian Housing Initiative at The Pennsylvania State University, and through application on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana, USA. The design and construction of two prototype homes for two different communities are then presented as case studies for this project, including the utilization of an international design competition, the Solar Decathlon, as a vehicle for dissemination. The results of this research are presented including how building-centred community design affords the opportunity for economic development within a community related to: 1) The manufacture of building materials and systems; 2) Construction of homes and community buildings; and 3) Further research, development, and outreach.