London’s iconic Barbican conservatory couldn’t have been more fitting for a conference dedicated to the immense benefits of a world designed with biophilic principles. Visionaries, designers, architects, lawyers, academics, entrepreneurs, advocates and professionals across various walks in life, came together to share their perspectives for one full day in a series of talks.
Shinrin-yoku - Forest Bathing
By 2050, the United Nations states that 75% of the world’s projected 9 billion population will live in cities. So, is it so surprising that as a species we have become disconnected from nature…and forests, in particular, where we have lived for most of our life on earth? We are also, increasingly an indoor species. The World Health Organisation names stress as the health epidemic of the 21st century. Since its inception in Japanese culture in the 1980’s, Shinrin-yoku, meaning ‘Forest bath’, has proven to affect health and wellbeing beneficially in a myriad of ways. Forest Bathing/Shinrin-yoku - a Japanese practice reconnecting people with nature, alleviating effects of stress and burnout, developed in the 1980s during tech boom. Research into the practice has continued since then, and expanded worldwide…