Three Things You May Have Missed in 2023
Last year was a whirlwind, full of great healthy building milestones and accomplishments, but also some very important developments occurring toward the end of 2023 that might have been overlooked. As we step into the new year, I wanted to rewind and spotlight three in case anyone missed them. While these developments may have slipped past the radar, I’m shining a light on them because I think they hold such high importance to all of us in the healthy buildings movement.
Nature’s Dividends: The Economic Upside of Biophilia
We’re fortunate that last year the folks at Terrapin Bright Green led the update of an important report showing the many economic benefits of biophilia. A fully overhauled second edition, The Economics of Biophilia came out last autumn. The introduction starts with a profound statement from the authors: “We believe in the power of nature to help create spaces and places that heal, nurture, and inspire.” The report then lays the groundwork for understanding how designing with nature also makes financial sense, detailing how biophilic design helps increase productivity at work, improve academic achievement, mitigate occupational stress and support staff recruitment and retention. As the report says, “…it is timely for communities and institutions to look to biophilia as a means to heal (public health, equity first, climate impacts), attract and retain (residents, employees, tourists, businesses, investors, customers), and thrive (economic growth, stewardship, urban patriotism, gross domestic happiness, tax base).”
By way of example, among the literature cited in the report is the research from the University of Oregon that showed that biophilic design could help recapture 11 hours of working time per employee per year, which, when applied to a 200-person office, translates into an estimated increase of $605,000 in company revenue per year. That’s just one compelling research nugget of many throughout the report.
IWBI Executive Chairman Rick Fedrizzi, who wrote the foreword for the report, underscored the intrinsic importance of biophilia, writing, “This latest update of their seminal report only proves in greater detail something we all know intuitively: that if nature is part of human nature, then it should be an essential part of our buildings too.”
A Giant Step Forward for Healthier, More Sustainable Materials
Some of you may have also missed that five of the leading organizations working to support better building materials came together last year in an unprecedented collaboration. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and mindful MATERIALS (mM), each a stalwart of sustainable building practices, announced last November that they were joining forces to align around the Common Materials Framework, which establishes for the first time a common language for holistic material sustainability in the building industry.
By aligning efforts to advance material sustainability, transparency, and optimization in the construction and design industries, the five organizations helped take a giant step forward in helping steward project teams toward better materials. The Common Materials Framework, whose first version was completed in 2021, acts as a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for product sustainability, translating diverse product standards and disparate data points into consistent categories of impact: Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health + Equity, and Circularity.
As part of the partnership announcement, IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon said, “We’re thrilled to be locking arms with like-minded organizations to help realize a shared vision for better materials. By working together and leveraging the Common Materials Framework, we are not only creating greater alignment across industries, we are also seizing an opportunity to accelerate progress toward healthier and more sustainable materials."
Elevating the Social Determinants of Health across the Federal Government
In November, another relatively under-the-radar report was released from the White House, the U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health. Perhaps one of the most important health equity reports from 2023, the Playbook outlines a plan to better address the social determinants of health (SDOH), which refer to all the social circumstances and environmental hazards and exposures that impact health outcomes. The report, while not designed to be a comprehensive resource for addressing SDOH, sets forth “an initial set of framework actions that federal agencies are undertaking to support health by improving the social circumstances of individuals and communities.” Major social determinants covered in the report included housing security, food security, education access and a healthy environment. The Playbook also unpacks three pillars of federal action to significantly improve equitable health outcomes: expanding data gathering and sharing; supporting flexible funding for social needs; and supporting backbone organizations.
As an example, in the section focused on housing security, the report notes that more than 8.5 million households not receiving federal housing assistance live in “severely inadequate” rental conditions, pay more than half of their income toward rent, or both. These households suffering from inadequate housing increase their risk of exposure to “unsanitary conditions, lead poisoning, poor indoor air quality, climate-related hazards such as extreme temperatures and severe weather events, and a variety of other issues which can adversely impact health.” By better leveraging federal programs, the Playbook outlines ways to improve housing security through government efforts to increase housing affordability and stability, which in turn can help improve health outcomes for both individuals and communities.
Another SDOH focus area in the report is the importance of a healthy environment. The report states, “A safe and sustainable environment in which to live, work, learn, play, and worship is central to human health and well-being for all communities.” The report recognizes, however, that all too many “communities with environmental justice concerns face disparities in access to a healthy environment that are often the legacy of racial discrimination and segregation, redlining, exclusionary zoning, and other discriminatory land use decisions or patterns.” The report details ways the Administration is working to advance policies across federal agencies to address these disparities and put forward equitable solutions that better protect overburdened communities from pollution and environmental harms to improve the safety and environmental conditions in all communities.
