Creative destruction: building toward sustainability 1 James Hartshorn, Michael Maher, Jack Crooks, Richard Stahl, and Zoë Bond Abstract: The engineering community at large, and the civil engineering community in particular, has the opportunity and arguably the obligation to promote a development agenda that considers not only the economics of development, but also the health of the environment and society at large. In this paper, we contemplate the challenge of sustainable development and its effect on project scale and scope. We discuss the inherent opportunity to drive the “creative de- struction” of the development industry, using innovation to exploit inefficiencies in the planning and management of engineering systems to create a range of “future” products and services that challenge existing practice. We review the impact of procurement policy, contract pricing, prescriptive codes, and public policy on innovation. Several examples of innovative design and sustainable development introduced into the planning and management of Canadian civil engi- neering projects are provided. We assert that the most effective means of promoting the sustainability of built environ- ment and civil infrastructure systems will be through inter- and intra-industry collaboration with the support of public policy-makers. Key words: sustainable development, civil, engineering, infrastructure, innovation, creative destruction, environment, collaboration. Résumé : La communauté des ingénieurs en général, et surtout les ingénieurs civils, a l’occasion et on pourrait dire l’obligation de promouvoir un agenda de développement qui tienne compte non seulement de l’aspect économique du développement, mais également de la santé de l’environnement et de la société en général. Dans cet article, nous exa- minons le défi du développement durable et ses effets sur l’échelle et la portée des projets. Nous discutons de l’occasion inhérente de piloter la « destruction créatrice » de l’industrie du développement en innovant pour exploiter les inefficiences de la planification et la gestion des systèmes d’ingénierie afin de créer une gamme de produits et ser- vices « futurs » qui mettent au défi les pratiques courantes. Nous revoyons l’impact des politiques d’achats, des prix contractuels, des codes prescriptifs et des politiques publiques sur l’innovation. Nous donnons plusieurs exemples de conception innovatrice et de développement durable introduits dans la planification et la gestion des projets d’ingénierie civile au Canada. Nous faisons valoir que les moyens les plus efficaces de promouvoir la durabilité de l’environnement construit et les systèmes d’infrastructure civils seront trouvés grâce à une collaboration inter et intra industrie avec le soutien des décideurs. Mots clés : développement durable, civil, ingénierie, infrastructure, innovation, destruction créatrice, environnement, collaboration. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Hartshorn et al. 180 You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. [Buckminster Fuller] Introduction At the foundation of our economy are the cornerstones of human capital, financial capital, manufactured (artificial) capital, and natural capital. Numerous commentators have discussed the notion of “artificial” capital (such as roads, buildings, machines, and products) being created at the ex- pense of “natural” capital (those finite elements of the bio- sphere). It is this artificial capital that is measured by gross national product and profit. There has traditionally been a reluctance to incorporate the natural capital costs of doing business into the financial bottom line. The short-term, and some would argue myopic, perspective is that financial resources invested in protecting or remediating the environ- Can. J. Civ. Eng. 32: 170–180 (2005) doi: 10.1139/L04-119 © 2005 NRC Canada 170 Received 17 March 2004. Revision accepted 8 December 2004. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at http://cjce.nrc.ca on 23 March 2005. J. Hartshorn 2 and R. Stahl. Golder Associates Ltd., 2390 Argentia Road, Mississauga, ON L5N 5Z7, Canada. M. Maher. Golder Associates Ltd., 100 Scotia Court, Whitby, ON L1N 8Y6, Canada. J. Crooks and Z. Bond. Golder Associates Ltd., 1000–940 6th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB T2P 3T1, Canada. Written discussion of this article is welcomed and will be received by the Editor until 30 June 2005. 1 This article is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue on Sustainable Development. 2 Corresponding author (e-mail: jhartshorn@golder.com).