Amanda Sturgeon, biophilic expert to present keynote at GBCSA Convention

This year the Head of Regenerative Design at the global consultancy firm, Mott MacDonald and respected author, Amanda Sturgeon will be speaking at this year’s Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) Virtual Convention. The event is set to take place at the end of October this year.

Sturgeon will be delivering the keynote presentation and a deep-dive workshop on regenerative design. She explained that there needs to be an all-inclusive transformation for any meaningful change to take place.

“We will have to shift our fundamental relationship with nature to make a whole systems change. Only then can we restore a positive and thriving relationship with the world. Only then can we solve the climate crisis,” Sturgeon says.

She worked for 15 years as an architect before she became the CEO of the International Living Future Institute (IFLI). As an architect, she worked on projects such as Islandwood on Washington’s Bainbridge Island.

Sturgeon has always been a strong advocate for the green building movement. In 2013, she was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for her volunteer service in the green building movement.

While she was CEO, Sturgeon has spent the last decade developing regenerative frameworks. She created a global movement around Biophilic Design. In 2018, she delivered a talk for TedMed on how biophilic buildings can make people more productive while making them healthier and happier.

In December 2017. Sturgeon published a book called Creating Biophilic Buildings. In 2015 she was honoured as one of the top ten most powerful women in sustainability and she received the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award.