Post by Philip Allsopp

Last week (March 3rd) I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with AIA and RIBA colleagues about my work. Its about this: The Places We Build Shape the People We Become Every one of us lives inside a story written by the places we inhabit. Our homes, streets, schools, parks, and neighborhoods quietly shape how we sleep, how we learn, how we age, how we connect with one another, and how healthy we become. They influence our stress levels, our sense of safety, our economic opportunities, and even how long we live. For generations, we’ve been taught to think of the built environment as background scenery — something other people make decisions about, something done to us, a real estate commodity, something fixed, something technical. But the truth is far more powerful: Human habitat (our built environment) is one of the most important public health, economic, and social determinants of our time. And it is something we can change - together. For Human habitat to enable our species to thrive, it cannot be treated as just background scenery resulting from the profit drive of real estate speculation Why? Because it is the stage on which our lives unfold. And to improve lives, that stage must be worthy of the people who stand on it. My inspiration comes from the people with whom I work and have worked throughout my career and those authors whose work also spans the fields of public health, environmental neuroscience, medieval history, architecture and urban design, and continues to fuel my imagination - including but certainly not limited to: Annette Kehnel, Dr. Eve Edelstein,Gerhard Mayer,Oliver Urquhart Irvine,John P. Benson, Adrian Malleson, Mark Wilhelm, Rebecca Halstead, Jane Duncan OBE, Adele Austin, Jack Pringle PPRIBA, Olivia Cashman, RIBA, ARB, NCARB, RA, Rob Dennis, RIBA,AIA,NCARB,LEED® AP BD C, Moein Nodehi, and my other RIBA colleagues with whom I serve on the RIBA's Expert Advisory Group on AI, Generative Design and Data, on RIBA Council representing The Americas region, and on RIBA's Board of Trustees. https://lnkd.in/gwXHjjB2