摘要
The most fundam ental struggle for realizing a sustainable built environm ent still lies in the use of non-renew able resources in its articulation.Although efforts have been taken to increase the use of sustainable materials the vast majority of the building sector still relies heavily on depletable resources.This article debates that the most fundam ental contributors to sustainable developm ent are the evaluation and incorporation of inhabitant capacities.Evaluating the available natural materials,inhabitant skills and tools could play a fundam ental role in creating sustainable solutions.However,inhabitant capacity-models insufficiently cover all instrum ental capacities into one model(both inhabitant and community).Therefore,this article describes:a framework for evaluating inhabitant capacities;how to map available resource capacities;how these capacities can be incorporated into sustainable housing development and planning.The framework was developed as a part of a support tool,which helps designers and engineers to evaluate inhabitant capacities.To describe the fram ework and support tool a rural Sub-Saharan community is used,as their capacities are relatively less com plicated com pared to a‘western’context.The article concludes that the framework shows great potential in reducing the use of unsustainable materials.Furtherm ore,that it could enable social sustainability by creating self-reliant and resilient communities.