This paper is concerned with the comparison of two traditions - the tradition of sustainable development and the European tradition of architecture derived from the work of the roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. We compare the relevance of both traditions for various topics related to architecture, urban design and spatial planning and suggest both frameworks are rather complementary than opposed. We offer the new scheme of sustainable development evaluation based on combination of both traditions with the aim of minimizing the risk of omitting the "border" topics.