Our current global context is driven by two trends. Trend 1: a manifestation of
the „take-make-waste? worldview, systematically decreases the carrying capacity
of the world in terms of necessary natural resources for human survival while
simultaneously increasing the amount of waste introduced back into the
biosphere by human civilization. Trend 2 shows a correlation between global
demand for world resources and increasing global population. The unnerving
reality of these trends is their convergence. As resources deplete their demand
increases. If allowed to persist, these trends will ultimately undermine
humanity?s ability to perpetuate itself (Robèrt 2000). To avoid this outcome,
and move humanity towards sustainability, large scale strategies are required.
To aid us in that movement, the international non-governmental organization,
The Natural Step (TNS), developed a framework for strategic sustainable
development (FSSD). That is, a perspective for dealing with sustainability
problems within complex systems (Robèrt 2000). This framework outlines a
decision making process, adding rigour and insight, for developing strategies
towards the sustainable function of an organization in society in the biosphere
(Robèrt 2000). Through its application, organizations work to minimize their
risks by developing and assessing strategies made within, scientifically
grounded, sustainable constraints.
Our cities each consist of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of
people, making a shift towards sustainability at the community level a useful
strategy in agreement with our present global context. Moving such a mass of
people, however, is easier said than done. To induce a societal shift towards
sustainability, community governance must learn to use their strengths as key
leverage points. In such a strategy, vital social hubs and/or centralized
infrastructure will yield positive results towards change—because they assemble
many people at once, they are efficient way to „spread the word?. Perfect for
these reasons, community stadiums provide excellent potential as a community
platform.
As the house of professional sports, stadiums draw staggering crowds
world-wide, numbering high into the hundreds of millions annually (List of
attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues 2008). These numbers
alone present a dramatic opportunity for inducing sustainability, however,
combined with the positive pro-social psychological effects resulting from
spectators sports (Howard 1912; Platow et al. 1999), intervention through use
of stadiums is especially appealing. Furthermore, stadiums serve as statement
pieces of a community?s culture; as a symbol of modernity and innovation they
come to represent the citizens of the towns in which they stand (Ponder 2004).
Thereby, moving a stadium towards sustainability would yield significant
momentum towards a societal shift, through changing both the minds and hearts
of individuals.
Methods
Our research is framed within the structure of the FSSD, using a large,
multi-resource literature review complemented by conceptual diagrams and
interviews to inform our views. We used the literature review to understand
broad concepts within the stadia industry, translating these finding visually ...
