Posted in City, Construction, Education, Health Care, Retail
With the chaos of today’s culture, society is turning to Mother Nature for comfort. The term “biophilia,” as popularized by Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson in 1984, refers to “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” While some may get the impression being around plants is merely a warm and fuzzy concept, the…
Posted in Agriculture, Beautiful Future, Behavior, City, Environmentalism, Ethics, Future, Futurist
In their fascinating book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Nobel Prize-winning economists Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explain how simple policy “nudges” can have powerful ramifications. The example that has always stuck with me is the vast discrepancy between the number of organ donors in Germany and Austria. Culturally, socially, and economically,…
Posted in Beautiful Future, City, Construction, Future
The future will become more beautiful one step at a time. On April 22, New York City–following on the heels of Denver, Portland, San Francisco, and Toronto–took a small step in this direction by passing legislation requiring new buildings to have “green roofs.” In addition to cooling down a city by mitigating the urban heat island…
