Design impact matters…architects shape lives

One of the favorite catch phrases architects employ is: “design matters”. However, its true importance is often overlooked. For the people who occupy and experience the places and spaces architects create, impact on their lives matters.

Today every city wrestles with intransigent social, economic, and environmental shortcomings. Each is affected by, and sometimes substantially caused by, conditions in the built environment. No well-intentioned intervention can succeed without altering built form to support needed solutions.

Many of today’s greatest public health challenges are exacerbated by characteristics of buildings and cities which discourage physical activity, disconnect people from nature and each other, and inequitably distribute essential resources. Just as cholera, dysentery, and tuberculosis were conquered a century ago by creating sanitary and healthy cities, today’s built environment must be reshaped to address 21^st century problems.