Building to Heal: Regenerative design and the impact of sustainable construction materials
The next ROC&TOK webinar will take place on July 2, 2026 at 3 PM CEST/Paris Time and will be one hour long (30-minute presentation + 30-minute interaction). The registration for this webinar is free.
- Speaker: Prof. Guillaume Habert, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Host: Prof. Prannoy Suraneni, University of Miami, United States
- Title: Building to Heal: Regenerative design and the impact of sustainable construction materials
The built environment is a major source of greenhouse emissions, but this presentation aims to show that buildings shouldn’t be seen only as a problem but rather as a steppingstone towards environmental solutions and better opportunities for people and planet. Research has shown that depending on the choice of materials, buildings can also improve the environment, increase the health quality of their inhabitants, and activate local and interconnected supply chains that can strengthen the local economy.
The central argument of the presentation is that in order to achieve these goals, we have to change our material diet. Rather than using carbon intensive building materials we can and must use regenerative materials and use les of them. This presentation shows that this is possible and that we have the required land, the economic power, and the technical standards to do it.