Attached is a .pdf that explores the idea that people use their time to meet their wants and needs, but there are obstructions that prevent some people from meeting some of their needs effectively. Measuring that 'effectiveness' is required to be able to find optimal designs for the 'Actualized Quality of Life' rather than just the 'Potential Quality of Life'.
In all cases, it is the community as a whole that defines what it's 'needs' are, and the role of the engineer would be to compare the predicted performance of the alternative designs against those needs. If the community is very spartan in their definition of needs, then it would be fairly simple to demonstrate that the needs can be met within the resources available to the community, and that most people meet most of those needs quite effectively. And not, if the community is expansive in their definition.
I don't know if I have over-simplified the problem, and therefore the solution. Any insight that the academic community can provide is greatly appreciated.
Dear Douglas, you are definitely on the right track. Once the community does its own determination of needs, the engineer's job should have nothing to do with 'what they want to choose'. So you are definitely on the right track. No over or under-simplification.
Thank you Jose
I'm not sure that distinction is clear. Canadians may assume that 'Basic Needs' includes food, but may assume that imported food is a 'Luxurious Desire'. The folks in Gibraltar may assume that all food, regardless of source, are basic needs. I think the engineer is not in a position to define that boundary of needs.
In communities with rich natural resources, the amount of luxurious desires that can be supported will be vastly different from what can be supported in areas without. Poor areas will not be able to support a subsistence level of consumption for large populations. With imperfect distribution of resources and population, there will be areas of wealth and poverty that are not addressable.
The community must provide the boundary. As the engineer, I can inform them of the implications of their choices, but I can't make those choices for them. So I may suggest that rest, food, water/hygiene, homeostasis, love, approval of my peers, fitness, health care, care for the infirm, child care, education, emotional work as a community, security, governance, and hope are all needs, but it's up to the community to decide which activities within the community would meet those needs, and what the symptoms would be in individuals who do not have their needs met (so that professionals can address them). They may harshly limit my list, in which case it becomes fairly simple for most communities to 'be sustainable', but it's at a low quality of life. They may vastly expand my list, making it harder to be a sustainable community, because of how high that quality of life would be. But if they can find a way to make it work, then kudos to them.
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