The Modern Built Environment and Its Relationship to Collapse

The link between collapse and the built environment is examined under three main headings. These are the perception of collapse, the reciprocity between culture and habitat, and the limits imposed by ecosystems. In the built environment collapse is normally linked to physical failure but can also involve the failure of a system within the built environment, such as a water supply. The built environment is also the result of the habits, rituals, social structures, economy and political organisations of a civilisation. This reciprocity between culture and habitat suggests that built environments collapse when their cultures collapse and vice versa. Because ruins have helped archaeologists and historians identify and understand the collapse of past civilisations, this raises the question of whether examining the current built environment could be used to predict a future collapse, noting that modern cities rely on imports of energy and matter from ecosystems beyond their boundaries. This introduces the question of scale, which links back to resilience theory. The chapter tabulates the links between sustainability, resilience, collapse and the built environment and concludes by suggesting the need not only to create a built environment that can rebound after a collapse but also one that does not contribute to causing a collapse.