When the phrase ‘sustainable development’ came into widespread use in the last half of the 1980s, it signalled a new phase in our struggle with the twin catastrophes of resource depletion and environmental degradation. Although the essence of the concept of sustainable development is clear enough, the exact interpretation and definition of sustainable development has caused strong discussions. Sustainable development has always been defined as a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (1), in other words ‘leave something for the children’. The question is what exactly is the future generation going to get from us? Is it cities of which history and culture is lost and nothing is found that tells the story of who we are and where we are from?

The path to a truly sustainable society begins with the objective of improving and sustaining efficiency and safety in all forms of development ⁽⁴⁾

This means that in order to achieve a fully sustainably developed society, this development must affect all aspects of the community or even country and elements such as culture, climate and place are of the utmost importance if this is to be achieved.

• The environment that is been preserved is nothing without the people who live in it just as the people are nothing without the environment.
• Climate change is place based and is directly proportional to culture as well as the environment that surrounds it.
• Development could be said to be the act of expanding and improving on what is and what was. Therefore there should be an improvement of architecture in a place based context and not the other way round.

Sustainable development should therefore be defined by emphasizing the importance and implications of cultural values, and placing ‘cultural values’ as a critical key to sustainable development in third world countries and most  especially in Africa. Development in these countries has always meant an emulation of the western world and loosing identity of who they are, imbibing their ‘sophistication’ as well as their problems. As such mainstream notions of sustainable development fall within the narrow confines of modernization theories of development which prioritizes an image and vision of development scripted in the tenets of Western technological civilization that is often promoted as the “universal” and the “obvious” ⁽¹⁾. What it does is to legitimize so-called modern Western values and to de-ligitimize alternative value systems thereby constructing a global cultural asymmetry between the “West” and the “Rest” ⁽³⁾  .

• The cultural values of an area should be showcased in such a way as to completely eliminate the idea of backwardness especially in Africa.

Poverty is the greatest global issue. It is much more devastating than the impact of climate change. The subject of sustainability of the human race should be the focal point of every major development and sustainable development generally should begin from here. You can start by looking to live more sustainably through sustainable purchases and choices. Achieving sustainability in most of third world countries has been an issue especially when trying to emulate the western world’s form of development, thereby making it very expensive and forgetting the fact that the answer to achieving what we want lies in our identity.

Bibliography

1. Aseniero, G. (1985). “A Reflection on Developmentalism: From Development to Transformation.” In H. Addo. Development as Social Transformation. (London: Hodder & Stoughton): 48-85.
2. Galtung, J. (1996). Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization. London: Sage/PRIO.
3. Landes, D. (2000). Culture Makes Almost All the Difference. New York: Basic Books
4. Nurse, Keith (2003) “Development: Unthinking the Past” NACLA Journal 37.3: .
5. Odebiyi S. (2010). Sustainable Housing Development in Africa: A Nigerian Perspective. International Business and Management Journal Vol. 1 No. 1. pp. 22- 30
6. 6.       Tyrell R. (2004). Culture Climate Place: A Cultural Perspective of Sustainable Architecture