Note this is an initial stub / work in progress page.
The decisions every organisation makes have a future impact and often have implications beyond their organisation. The first step is raise awareness of the need to consider sustainability issues in architecture and design processes so they can be considered alongside typical considerations of business impact, quality, cost & compliance. Architects should consider what environmental debt has their organisation (and potentially the wider ecosystem they operate in) built up that now needs to be addressed systematically? How do we advise our stakeholder to build more sustainable systems and architectures to avoid these issues?
Conscious, sustainable business is no longer a nice to have - consumers and business customers, employees, stakeholders and investors want to do work with organisations that (pragmatically) do the right thing.
Architects have a challenge to pragmatically navigate a way that allows their organisations to adapt - and continue to be adaptable, whilst ensuring that the way forward aligns with being a sustainable organisation that builds towards the much needed more positive society of tomorrow.
Whilst very important topics this goes beyond climate change and sustainability - there are a whole spectrum of Sustainable Development Goals and quality attributes that organisations need to consider including:
- Climate change & impacts on food production and health
- Sustainability, biodiversity & protecting ecosystems
- Diversity, the increasing digital divide & social inclusion
- Cybersecurity & privacy
- Responsible consumption and production (of energy and products/services)
You shouldn’t just think of this as someone else’s problem - don’t just try and outsource it. I.e. How does your supply chain and extended enterprise / business ecosystem tackle these challenges? What is your total footprint?
Architects are responsible for advising organisations on business and technology choices. The Architecture of tomorrow ideally to be compatible with the triple bottom line of social and environmental concerns as well as profits. Architects therefore need to consider the wider impacts of their recommendations and choices (and make decision-makers aware of them).
Whilst sustainable architecture choices apply across the layers of architecture it can be helpful to break them into 2 categories:
- Organisational Sustainability (influenced by business architecture and leveraging technologies to make the organisation more sustainable)
- Technology Sustainability (i.e. what is the footprint of your systems and technology)
Whilst all organisations should strive to consider both of these areas; the sector of your organisation, the regulatory compliance regime you operate under and leadership priorities will likely influence whether you focus on Organisational or Technology sustainability. For example if your organisation operates in (or uses a lot of suppliers from) an energy intense or industrial sector focusing on Organisational Sustainability is likely to have the greatest impact. However if your organisation operates in the technology, finance or knowledge work / services sectors then your technology might have the greatest impact and that should be prioritised.