Allen et.al. suggest that sustainability has been gaining presence as a scientific topic because the development of more advanced tools has enabled scientists to perceive increasingly larger contexts. In Lesson 1, we learned that geodesign was design on a broader scale and dealt with “big” concepts that necessitated tools to enable the geodesign team to think “big.” Steinitz’s framework has helped us to frame culture, places, and problems into understandable models. Each model is essentially attempting to communicate an important idea about suitability. Whether it is the soil composition, vegetation typology, floodplain, storm patterns, or future land uses – each bit of information is a clue to understanding what creative change will fit the place. We can see this perhaps more readily in Bill Miller's MAD diagram, which links data and geoprocessing steps to design in a clear way. The framework is a tool that enables us to envision sustainable futures for places and cultures.

The geodesign framework is the product of individual decisions made by the geodesign team and project stakeholders. Every place and each integral human and natural ecosystem constantly evolved. Returning to the beach, suppose the crab's shell is shaped to protect it from predators. Perhaps the type of predator changes or the availability of new shells diminishes. Either way, the crab’s shell has become unfit for this new context. If the crab was able to frame the context and understand its own unsuitability, it could implement a change to improve its ability to sustain its life. Fortunately we have the tools, technical ability, and a growing awareness of the importance of sustainability to inform these types of decisions.

Consider the landscape of the New Jersey Shore. Given recent events, we could determine that development along the shore is unsustainable. It could also be argued that the shore’s development was suitable because it sustained growth for decades between storms. So how sustainable a place is requires some valuation. Allen et.al. state “sustainability is a topic of human values” (p.23). People are to judge how sustainable a decision is for them – which is why collaboration with local people is so highly valued in the geodesign process. Ultimately, the geodesign team is designing a solution for them. It must be by their own values that they determine how enduring a change should be to be considered successful. It is the role of the geodesign team to assemble and summarize all of the available information in order to enable stakeholders to make a decision.