There is no doubt that large-scale development in the built environment and its physical infrastructure is needed in the so-called 'developing countries'. However, these problems need to be addressed in a way that is socially and ecologically responsible. There is great urgency to make sustainable interventions now, while these built environments are being created, rather than try and change things after the fact. However, there are a number of challenges to the introduction of sustainable construction technologies and practices, and certain enablers need to be developed to help these countries adopt a more sustainable path. The Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries suggested a strategy for addressing some of these challenges by developing a Research and Development Agenda, based on a matrix of immediate, medium-term and long-term technological, institutional and value enablers. This Agenda is supported by a Stakeholder Plan for Action. The challenge now is to find the means to implement these suggestions at a local level by developing regional and national action plans.Sustainable, construction, development, developing countries, strategy,

The concept of regenerative design and development is situated within the broader theoretical context of sustainability. The emerging regenerative paradigm is contrasted with the two current sustainability paradigms -internationally negotiated 'idealistic' public policy and private sector 'Ecological Modernization' -that seek to maintain the status quo. Each of these sustainability paradigms is explained though a brief historical narrative to illustrate their response to broader social pressures, the main critiques of each and some commonalities. It is argued that the dominant sustainability paradigms are reaching the limitations of their usefulness due to their conceptual foundation in an inappropriate mechanistic worldview and their tacit support of a modernization project that prevents effective engagement with a complex, dynamic and living world. The regenerative paradigm provides an alternative that is explicitly designed to engage with a living world through its emphasis on a co-creative partnership with nature based on strategies of adaptation, resilience and regeneration. It provides a foundation for a sustainability paradigm that is relevant to an ecological worldview.

It has been widely argued that in order to move development into a positive curve towards sustainability, society needs to change the worldview/paradigm within which it currently operates; and that such a shift from a mechanistic to an ecological/living systems worldview is already happening. It is suggested that the purpose of the sustainability paradigm flowing from this worldview is not to conserve the status quo or meet ill-defined human needs, but to strengthen the health, adaptive capacity, and evolutionary potential of the fully integrated global social-ecological system so that it can continue regenerating itself, thereby creating the conditions for a thriving and abundant future -not only for the human species, but for all life. In this paper we explore the ecological worldview and the guidelines it provides for how we interpret sustainability; as well as the strategies for the production of the built environment we need to follow if we are to adapt to coming changes in the planetary system and regenerate the world. The question this paper asks is: how does this sustainability paradigm, with its focus on regenerating the whole of the socialecological system within which we are working, change the way the built environment is produced? To achieve this objective, the paper synthesizes the findings of two separate studies: an extensive literature review to define the meta-narratives of the ecological worldview; and an analysis of in depth interviews with academics and built environment practitioners that aimed to find correlations between the practice and theoretical positions of the participants and the values and praxiology of the ecological worldview as described in the first study. Three main themes of the ecological worldview -wholeness, relationship, and change -provide a framework for discussing the implications of this regenerative sustainability paradigm for the production of the built environment -for how it is created, the technologies used, and how it is evaluated.

The broader framing of the decision-making processes of stakeholders within the sustainability debate is explored in the context of a paradigm shift that acknowledges the world as a complex, dynamic system. There is merit in adopting a paradigm informed by, and therefore suitable for dealing with, living systems, particularly as the paradigm is founded on holistic and flexible strategies. To move the discussion forward, a key concern examined here is what this different paradigm means for engaging and motivating stakeholders. Through questioning established notions of 'stakeholder' as defined in the business literature, and the traditional models of sustainable development, an alternative model of sustainability is presented that is grounded in a different worldview. The implications are considered of how the paradigm's adoption and the associated model of sustainability would change current practices for motivating social transformation in the built environment through stakeholder engagement. Three major shifts in thinking implicit in such a new model of sustainability are identified and examined: creating effective change in the complex social-ecological system presented by the built environment; how this worldview would redefine current notions of stakeholder engagement; and what the implications would be for mechanisms such as assessment and rating tools meant to change stakeholder behaviour.

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Sustainable development, and by extension sustainable building, is an evolving concept that relies for its implementation on the development of regional and local approaches and solutions. There is, in particular, a split between the definitions, approaches and priorities in developed and developing countries. Subsequently, a process for creating an international agenda for sustainable building is needed to recognize these regional and local differences. Part of this process is the development of regional action plans for sustainable building and construction at a number of regional sustainable building conferences. The key elements of an action plan for Africa, based on a discussion session at the SB04 Africa Conference, are considered and placed within the African context and the larger international issues. The key issue is the establishment of a solid knowledge foundation for Africa that will equip the public, professionals, development agencies and governments with accurate and relevant knowledge generated within the framework of the continent's social needs, its cultures and its biophysical environment to guide their decisions and actions towards establishing a sustainable built environment.Le développement durable et, par extension, la construction durable, s'inscrivent dans un concept évolutif qui repose, pour sa mise en oeuvre, sur le développement d'approches et de solutions régionales et locales. On constate en effet une fracture dans les définitions, les approches et les priorités entre pays industrialisés et pays en développement. Il faut donc que la construction durable s'inscrive dans un projet international capable de reconnaître ces différences régionales et locales. Il convient notamment de développer des plans d'action régionaux en matière de construction durable et de les présenter à l'occasion de conférences régionales organisées autour de ces thèmes. Les éléments clés d'un plan d'action pour l'Afrique, sur la base d'un débat qui s'est instauré au sein de la Conférence SB04 Afrique, sont pris en compte et replacés dans le contexte africain et dans celui, plus large, des questions internationales. L'objectif majeur est d'établir, pour l'Afrique, une base de connaissance solide à laquelle auront accès le grand public, les professionnels, les agences de développement et les gouvernements; cette base contiendra un savoir précis et pertinent défini sur la base des besoins sociaux de ce continent, de ses cultures et de son environnement biophysique afin de guider les décisions et les actions vers l'établissement d'un cadre bâ ti durable.

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