I have no idea how many blogs are active right now, but since the figure of 112 million was suggested in December 2007, 336 million would seem to be a conservative estimate for January 2009. So why one more? There are many excellent blogs touching on topics related to sustainability in the built environment, architecture and sustainable design. Some of these are listed in the blogroll in the sidebar. However, the BRE Centre in the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University is pursuing a unique slant on sustainable design by adopting a socio-technical approach that focuses mostly—but not always—on how we can improve the quality of the existing built environment. You can get more details in the About page.

I hope this blog can make a modest contribution to stimulating debate or simply raising awareness about issues, events and developments—if only to point to other interesting posts. I can’t promise any answers but there might be a few clues. You may find the odd post on ubiquitous computing or information design that don’t quite seem to fit, but generally they will have some tenuous link to making our built environment more sustainable.

Since this is a university hosted blog it carries certain responsibilities that need to be mentioned up front. You can leave comments, but please don’t post anything that is potentially libellous or you may get in trouble. Comments on posts here need to stay focused on the subject of sustainable design and should avoid slamming, endorsing or advertising commercial products. The contents of webpages linked to from here are beyond my control, so if you find something distasteful there, complain to the authors.

Oh yes, and the question everyone asks: how often will the blog be updated? The straight answer is: I don’t know, but I will aim to post at least once a week. Once we get going I’m hoping to add some other contributors to bring some variety to the entries and take some of the pressure off me.

So, here goes. I hope you enjoy the content and constructive criticism is always welcome.

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