Political ecology: Deconstruction & sustainable architecture

Lavaf Pour, Yahya

Abstract

The prevailing discourse on sustainable architecture remains largely constrained by techno-scientific determinism and reductive materialism that reduce sustainability to metrics of efficiency and carbon performance. This paper challenges such reductive paradigms by proposing a deconstructive approach to sustainability, one that acknowledges the instability, contradictions, and entanglements inherent in the built environment. Drawing on Derridean deconstruction this study argues that sustainability should not be understood as a fixed state but as an ongoing, temporal negotiation between architecture, ecology, and cultural contingencies.
This paper critiques the assumption that sustainability can be universally defined, advocating instead for a more situated, adaptive, and open-ended architectural practice. By repositioning sustainability as an emergent and relational condition, this paper proposes new methodological approaches to reframe architecture as an open system in dialogue with its ecological and social contexts.
This theoretical investigation is accompanied by speculative design strategies that illustrate how sustainability might be reimagined beyond the current fixation on permanence, control, and optimisation.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Abstract
• Conference Name: MCCT: MIDLANDS CONFERENCE IN CRITICAL THOUGHT 2025
• Start Date: Apr 24, 2025
• End Date: Apr 24, 2025
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 25, 2025
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 29, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/14332730