Q.
What are the basic economic problems of built environment?
A.
The three basic economic problems are:
- What to produce?
- How to produce (how much)?
- To whom it is produced?
The above questions are "economic problems" because of one single most prominant factor in the study of economics, that is "limited resources" or in other words, resources are scarce and finite. One way or another, we will run out of resources. There are two main types of resources:
Physical and natural - land, minerals, air, water.
Human - Labour and work force.
Capital - machinery and equipment.
Entrepreneurship - intellect, innovation, leadership.
Hence, in built environment, these basic economic problems can be understood as:
What to produce - houses or apartments, shop lots, schools, healthcare facilities or recreational parks?
How to produce - self build or massive construction with government assistance, to utilize one-size fit all or to tailor make for artistic and ambient requirement of individual dweller?
To build for families and extended families, hence big houses with many rooms or made for small studio size for bachelor and small family units? And, there may be wastage of space?
Ref:
Own account with readings from yahoo search "basic economic problems" on 2 June, 2014.