(Up to: On Capitalism Vs Community )

From an ePolitix.com newsletter:

"Research published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors concludes that the private sector is unlikely to adopt more sustainable building processes unless prompted by governments. Regulation is essential if there is to be any progress in controlling the massive environmental impact of global construction activity, RICS concludes."

I've thought (and been prompted to think so) for a bit that current house-buliding practices are antiquated, and that energy consumption levels could be made so much lower if more modern practices were introduced on a much larger scale. But there doesn't seem to be any particular move towards such a thing, and instead we continue to see truckloads of standard-form blocks being thrown up still, ready for the next coachload of people wanting to move to the coast to get away from London.

I'm waiting for a link to the research mentioned, but in the meantime, is there any way to get people motivated to build sustainable architecture and infrastructure without resorting to either a). political sticks or b). some mass crisis, by which point it will probably be too late.