Wonderful article, especially the graphics. I also recently watched a TED talk by Dr. Sawin, about what she terms "multi-solving". Same concept, different name. This is the thought process and awareness level we need to bridge silos and definitively benefit our complete systems and communities. It's a huge shift from decades of being taught that independence is paramount to realizing that interdependence is true strength and significantly less expensive and more impactful/effective.
Additionally, I suggest using not only the term
co-benefits, but the term
co-burdens. In this way we can check our approaches to make sure we are maximizing the first, and minimizing the second. Often we plan an elegant and wonderful solution for our building, or project, and when we "zoom out" (check out our chat on Subject2Change - Sustainability with Eric Corey Freed at
https://youtu.be/KtKWfm8BgBw ) we see that we are doing damage to our neighbors or to linked systems.
Thanks for your work, Kira, and for sharing!
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Jodi Smits Anderson AIA
Director Sustainability Programs
DASNY
Albany NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-26-2021 12:16 PM
From: Kira Gould
Subject: the power of co-benefits thinking in design
The time to think differently is now. One person with some wisdom about how (and why) is architect (and public health scholar) Adele Houghton. Check out this great Q&A with Adele and Martin Pedersen in Common Edge:
Houghton: "The co-benefits framework can help the design team and project stakeholders map out the reason each analytic tool is being used, what outcome it's benefiting, and how. From my perspective working in public health, this is a great benefit. It makes it easy for me to show team members how prioritizing a public health endpoint (like reducing outdoor air pollution) connects back to energy modeling, landscape design, and decisions about … operable windows.
https://commonedge.org/how-a-small-set-of-strategies-can-benefit-the-greatest-number-of-outcomes/
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Kira Gould
Principal
Kira Gould CONNECT
Oakland CA
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