writing can be painful, yet the opportunity to travel the world and uncover stories that connect us to each other is totally compelling. PBS frontline has a fellowship program for journalism graduate students at UC Berkeley. One fellow, Timothy Lesle, uncovers the story of a failed sustainable development in China by William McDonough, a pre-eminent voice in sustainable design. Timothy’s story goes beyond describing a project gone-wrong, but delves into the issues of cultural gaps, the inadequacy of the hand-waving participatory process, and the need for deeper ethnographic understanding when designing for development in unfamiliar cultures. I could have written an “I admire” profile of McDonough just a few years ago, yet this exposé pushes me to write a “careers i fear” biography. Seems like a case of being blind-sided by your own big ideas.
People like Laurie Baker, immersed in a culture, working directly with builders, using local materials, provide a better model for sustainable development.
