‘What is Design Sustainability?’ is a question for everybody whether in growing economies, established urban centers, whether old and new, and humanity as a whole.

I believe that Sustainability is a balance like in nature, which can integrate our way of living with our environment. Everybody has potentials of becoming part of a global sustainable and ecological system. It is simple. It requires common sense and a desire to make our presence in this planet as less intrusive to its energy as possible. Our magazine with its architectural challenges and vision has created a series of questions in the form of interview in relation to design and sustainability. A number of international practitioners, academics and thinkers have been selected and invited to participate and share their views. In the current issue we present these interviews, articles and projects. We also feature the Masdar project, a truly unique sustainable project.

I also believed it would be necessary to focus to contribution of Art Sustainability and Sustainable Culture in this issue of the 2A; hence, I have invited contributors for these subjects as well with two articles.

In this issue of our magazine, I take the opportunity to announce a significant initiative for the world architectural and design community, the 2A World Architectural Network, which is a new form of international networking and interfacing of contemporary trends, ideas and projects among architects. Our priority here is to create a space for emerging talents. In this virtual community everybody is free to share their work and resources. Could this be a new form of sustainability?

We have also announced the 2A Architect’s Day. This is a special day to celebrate architecture and the impact of design on our lives. I would like to thank Prof. George Katodrytis and Mr. Saeed Masuoodi who have assisted me in this issue.
I am pleased to introduce the Guest Editors of our next issue, Nader Ardalan and Thomas Barrie. The theme of this will be ‘Architecture, Culture and Spirituality’ and it will be published in autumn 2009.

The first 2A Art Exhibition was held on 10th of June 2009. This was the first of a series of 2A exhibitions. Our exhibition’s schedule will be announced and updated at ‘2A Art Activities’ in our magazine and website.