Appropriate sustainable design for schools in lower northern part of Thailand

Abstract

Education is considered to be a critical element for promoting sustainability and a driving force for the change needed. Accordingly, school is considered a place for learning within the ethos of sustainability. This research aims to identify the relationships between sustainable education and sustainable school design and the key issues for the development of sustainable school design, and use the results to create and develop school design strategies which assist people to learn and understand the sustainable way of living. It is based on the interdisciplinary approach that suggests ideas and practices from other fields could support each other and create better practices. Through the process of review and discussion, the research presents a revision of the concept of school design for sustainability. This revision reveals school design as an integrated and dynamic process and an element of a whole process leading to sustainability. The research proposes that the change in attitudes and behaviours of learners and people involved with school activities should be a key focus of sustainable school design for sustainable education. Adopting the model of responsible environmental behaviour, it also suggests the use of sustainable schools and their design process as learning tools for promotion of constructive attitudes towards sustainability. In addition, the research proposes three interconnected requisite components of sustainable school design, which are a sustainable education approach, sustainable design processes, and sustainable local conditions. Since in practice sustainable school design is inevitably related to local contexts, the research explores one current Thai schooling practice, the Buddhism-oriented school, which shares similarities with ideas and practices of sustainable education. The approach is suggested as a suitable model for further development of sustainable education and sustainable schools in Thailand. The case studies, seven schools which were visited including five schools in the Northern part of Thailand and two in Bangkok, show the importance of changing attitudes and behaviours, the significant influences of local contexts on educational practices, and how the physical environment can support such activities. The lessons from the experiences of such schools suggest a solution for schools in other places and offer a model for Thai schools of a way of changing behaviour towards a more sustainable society.