Humanity is facing its greatest design challenges ever: pandemics, climate change and the depletion of natural resources. The combined effect of these challenges has led to a substantial loss of life, both human and natural, often disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable individuals and species. Unless we rethink the way we live, build, consume and produce energy, water and food, humankind will not be able to sustain current living standards on Earth.
At the same time, these challenges presents us with a unique opportunity to reconnect our civilisation with the ecosystems that sustain us and the natural environment we evolved from. For billions of years nature has designed a diverse web of interdependent ecosystems supporting millions of species that coexist within planetary boundaries. Our future human habitats must be built on the same synergies, eliminating the notion of waste by establishing circular resource loops. This requires a paradigm shift towards a new ecological era. A paradigm in which we understand that there is no distinction between the human systems we have built and the natural ecosystems we depend on. In this new perspective, technology and design are no longer seen as separate from the natural world that surrounds us. Everything we design, build and use is part of nature and returns to nature.
We invite you on a journey to rethink the way we build and live, based on an understanding that the health of people and planet are interdependent. By designing buildings and cities as ecosystems, we can begin to bridge the gap between the built and natural environment for the mutual benefit of both human and non-human life.
Join us at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia to explore a future in which we generously live together.