I am homewards-bound from the latest board meeting of Home.Earth, a Danish firm working to re-think (and do) real estate, by integrating the usually fragmented parts of the building lifecycle, and even more importantly, aiming to work in harmony with the environment and with tenants.
It’s an example of growing momentum to shift the built environment in a better direction. An endeavor that is by no means easy, but is endlessly inspiring, and ultimately comes down to the people involved, how they work together, and how open they are to new ideas.
These elements were also very much on display during the “Who (gets to) build?” session that Alejandra Rivera and I co-hosted earlier this month. Participants joined from many countries, including Australia, Brazil, Chile, India, Ireland, South Africa, the UK and the US.
The full takeaways are here. But in a nutshell the session achieved its goals of generating a renewed sense of possibility and lifting specific interventions for change (without ignoring elephants in the room). Closing reflections included:
“The shift is happening, and it’s all about building momentum now”
“A feeling of approaching critical mass to effect change is palpable”
And, reflecting a recurrent theme:
“We become more fully human when we open ourselves to the ideas and way of life that official knowledge and skill-sets overlook”
Read the full takeaways here. They include a list of practical materials that were shared - from “InfraHub Africa” to the “Building Transformation StoryMap”.
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The session was co-organized by Its Material and Urban Matters