Summer Reading List 2018

“Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families and communities. Nature deficit can even change human behavior in cities, which could ultimately affect their design, since long-standing studies show a relationship between the absence, or inaccessibility, of parks and open space with high crime rates, depression, and other human maladies.”

Richard Louv

As I continue interviewing experts and work on finalizing my travel itinerary, I wanted to share some of the books and reports I’ve been delving into during my research. There are many more sources, including numerous fascinating articles on the subject, but I think this is a good start. Plus, it’s a list of thirteen, my favorite number.

I look forward to any recommendations you may have!

1. Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life
2. Nature by Design: The Practice of Biophilic Design
3. Biophilia
4. Creating Biophilic Buildings
5. Handbook of Biophilic City Planning & Design
6. 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: Improving Health and Well-Being in the Built Environment
7. The Economics of Biophilia: Why designing with nature in mind makes financial sense
8. The Global Impact of Biophilic Design in the Workplace
9. Last Child in the Woods
10. The Nature Principle
11. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
12. Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World
13. Your Brain On Nature

“In the United States, a challenge remains to overcome the polar distinction between what is urban and what is natural. Perhaps because of the expansiveness of our ecological resources and land base, we have tended to see the most significant forms of nature as occurring somewhere else –  often hundreds of miles away from where most people actually live – in national parks, national seashores, and wilderness areas.”

Richard Louv