Living Buildings and Living Communities: the Needed Quantum Leap for a Sustainable Built Environment

Significant advances have been made in reducing environmental impacts of development in recent years.  Clearly, the dramatic evidence and daily reports of the advancing global environmental crisis indicate that these incremental improvements will not bring about the changes required to provide meaningful and significant reductions to meet even the most optimistic of targets.  We must make a quantum shift in our approach to and maintenance of the built environment to head off the looming environmental crisis.  This talk will explore an emerging understanding of what is needed to take the next significant step in realizing a sustainable built environment and get beyond our current limitations and incremental improvements in performance to a more sustainable future.