The Women in Biophilic Design panel on 22 July 2026 brought together five women working across design, education, publishing, environmental psychology, forest therapy and community building.

Although their routes into the field were very different, each had come to biophilic design through a personal experience of healing, stress, nature connection or the feeling that conventional design practice was missing something fundamental.

The conversation went beyond the usual discussion of plants, materials and visual references to nature. It became a broader discussion about what biophilic design can bring back into practice, including more care, better listening, stronger collaboration, a deeper sense of place and greater responsibility for the people and generations who come after us.

What stayed with me most was the sense of hope running through the discussion. The panellists did not deny the scale of the environmental and social challenges we face. Instead, they suggested that many of the qualities needed to respond to them already exist within the field and within the communities forming around it.

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