By Parsons Healthy Materials Lab

The UN identifies chemical usage as a particular global concern, destructive to land, water and air, negatively affecting both human health and environmental wellbeing. Carbon pollution from production of building materials contributes to an estimated 11% of all global emissions. The challenges of growing populations and demands for extensive new building and infrastructure exert exponential pressure on a planet with limited resources, a wildly ballooning amount of rubbish and a disturbing imbalance between natural and human forces. For design professionals, the material discussion is inescapable, as architectural and design communities are well positioned to embrace and front solutions for human and planetary health threats. Exploring critical topics of material health in this era of climate crisis, Material Health argues that there is an urgent need for new paths and practices in architecture and design in order to create healthier futures for everyone. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, it offers an overview of how design is taught and shapes our future, and how this could be radically changed through a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues threatening our planet and human species.