Last November, ILFI CEO Amanda Sturgeon spoke at TEDMED 2018, the independent health and medicine edition of the world-famous TED conference, dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” In her speech, Amanda talked about biophilic design, human health, and how the former can benefit the latter, as well as the role architecture can play in bringing nature back to our (mostly indoor) lives.

“Why have we become inside creatures? Why have we passively accepted buildings that disconnect us from nature?” Amanda stated. “My mission is to connect people and nature and break down the walls between inside and outside.”

An architect by profession, Amanda’s TEDMED talk explores how our buildings have separated us from nature, our communities and the uniqueness of the place they are located in and the impacts that has on our health and the health of the planet. “Buildings used to be a representation of who we are and the specific place that they were built in,” she said. “But with the advent of electricity, we no longer needed the warmth of the sun or the cooling breezes to stay comfortable. Windows began to seal up. Buildings became wider, and the spaces in the middle darker and more removed from nature.”

Research shows that exposure to nature is not only healing and beneficial to humans, but also makes us more productive. We can change the way we design our built environments to incorporate and simulate nature in ways that are good for us—by using biophilic design.

You can watch Amanda’s full 14-minute talk as she covers these topics and more. You won’t want to miss it! She also wrote a short blog post for the TEDMED website—read it here.

Check out ILFI’s Biophilic Design Initiative and join us at the Living Future unConference 2019 to hear Amanda speak!

Written By

ILFI Staff

The International Living Future Institute’s mission is to lead the transformation toward a civilization that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.