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Carlo Battisti of Living Future Europe
509 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to episode 66 of the Green Healthy Places podcast, in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today.
I'm your host, Matt Morley, and today we're in Bolzano, Italy talking to Carlo Battisti, President of Living Future Europe.
Carlo qualified as a Civil Engineer from Milan's prestigious Polytecnico University and now specializes in sustainable innovation and project management. He is certified with LEED for green buildings, and WELL for healthy buildings, amongst a host of other professional accreditations.
Here we discuss the connection between biophilic design, beauty and wellbeing from the perspective of the International Living Future Institute.
We also look at the concept of restorative real estate developments, and even at how the Alto Adige - South Tyrol region of Italy that he is in has carved out a role for itself as a sustainable innovation hub within Italy.
This is a dense but extremely dynamic conversation. I really felt I was in the presence of someone who has completely mastered his art and is now committed to giving back to society by sharing that knowledge through a range of different mediums, including but not limited to podcasts!
GUEST: Carlo Battisti, https://carlobattisti.com/
HOST: Matt Morley, Biofilico healthy buildings
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Transcript
Introduction to Well-being and Sustainability
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to episode 66 of the Green Healthy Places podcast, in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today. I'm your host, Matt Morley, and today we're in Bolzano, Italy, talking to Carlo Battisti, European Executive Director of the International Living Future Institute and President of Living Future Europe.
00:00:40
Speaker
Carlo qualified
Biophilic Design and Well-being
00:00:41
Speaker
as a civil engineer from Milan's prestigious Polytechnicary University and now specializes in sustainable innovation and project management. He is certified with LEAN for LEAD for green buildings and WELL for healthy buildings amongst the host of other professional accreditations.
00:00:58
Speaker
We discuss the connection between biophilic design, beauty, and well-being from the perspective of the ILFI, the International Living Future Institute.
Restorative Real Estate and Sustainable Innovation
00:01:08
Speaker
We also look at the concept of restorative real estate developments, and even at how Alto Adigem, the region that he is in, has come to carve out a role for itself as a sustainable innovation hub within Italy. This is a dense but
00:01:28
Speaker
extremely dynamic conversation. I really felt I was in the presence of someone who has completely mastered his art and is now committed to giving back to society, sharing that knowledge through a range of different mediums. He was very generous with his time. Here he is, Carlo Battisti. Carlo, thank you so much for
00:01:48
Speaker
Joining us on the show, I'm looking forward to our conversation. It's going to cover a lot, but I know you'll have the expertise to make it succinct and also to help make it manageable for people to understand because there's a lot for us to cover. So why don't we begin?
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, surely. So first of all, I'm a building engineer as a background. I've been working for like 20 years in construction firms. So now it's already like 15 years. I'm dealing with sustainability and innovation in the building industry.
Living Building Challenge and Innovation
00:02:20
Speaker
and started dealing with sustainability standards around like 10 years ago or even more I discovered the Living Building Challenge which is really the most ambitious sustainability standards for the built environment and the incredible work that Title V was doing and I remember I went to a portal for the annual flagship conference Living Future in 2014
00:02:43
Speaker
And I remember I was the only European in the room, so what are you doing here? And I got back home with the brain full of ideas and the work that they are doing is always amazing.
00:02:58
Speaker
It's really disruptive because there are many sustainability standards and many conversations about how to make the building industry greener, but they really set the bar much higher, knowing that the progress that we have been really, let's say,
00:03:17
Speaker
Achieving so far in terms of addresses in the business industry is barely visible so we need to do much more and the radical concept behind it is really to move from a less bad to a more good scenario.
00:03:34
Speaker
really a built environment could be restorative first and then regenerative, really improving the conditions of the environment and making possible the ecosystem to thrive and the person and the beings and all the species, they say, thrive in a really regenerative way within the built environment, given that we know how impacting is the built environment generally
00:04:02
Speaker
on all of the sectors and the environment more in general. So we need to do much more. And again, this Living Building Challenge Framework is really a very holistic approach. It's based on the metaphor of a building as a flower. So there is this concept of the seven petals.
00:04:20
Speaker
And ILFI is basically developing these standards, covering buildings, building products, companies, communities, and so forth and so
Entering the Green Building Industry
00:04:30
Speaker
on. And we as Living Future Europe, we basically started opening their European office in 2018. And now we are an independent legal entity, again, with the name of Living Future Europe from the end of 2019. And we are basically promoting their programs across Europe with different activities.
00:04:49
Speaker
You mentioned your personal or rather your own professional background. A lot of people ask me, Matt, how can we get into this industry? What's the best way in? How do we study for biophilic design or how do we study to get into the space that you're in? And it's not always an obvious response. I think I see a lot of architects, obviously engineers, project managers from your position.
00:05:13
Speaker
for someone interested in this space around green buildings, healthy buildings, buildings that actually give back rather than take away from nature. What are the typical routes in and where do you see education feeding into this space in the future?
00:05:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. I had to say that in my personal experience, the process was very long. But I don't know, it happened this way. That's life. So I really arrived to this point after many years in the construction, but you can imagine like in the
00:05:46
Speaker
90s or at the end of the last billion, the situation was completely different. So the mentor was, if you remember, like to build, build, build and sell. And there was no particular attention on sustainability, for instance. Now it's true that we are dealing with sustainability already for like two or three decades. Consider all of the standards, the frameworks that have been developed in the
00:06:11
Speaker
in the same moment in time. So for persons starting now, it's really a bit different. So this sustainability issue, this attention to sustainability, this need is so important and it's clearly the main focus that not only the building industry and architecture engineer, but all of the economic sector should really address in a more effective way.
00:06:36
Speaker
It's important to have some technical, robust background, because in the end, it's how you do things that are also important. You need to know the processes, you need to know what you're basically doing as a designer, as a manufacturer, as a general contractor.
00:06:55
Speaker
because this is really what in the end impacts on the end result of your work also in terms of sustainability. But it's important now that everything that we are working with is really embedded in a broader sustainability concept. So sustainability in other terms should be really in the DNA of what we do as designers, contractors, building product manufacturers.
00:07:22
Speaker
developers and so forth and
Living Product Challenge and Circular Economy
00:07:24
Speaker
so on. So I see there are really huge challenges like for instance this living building challenge also in the title is a challenge so it's not easy it's difficult to achieve a full regenerative built environment but on the other hand we see and I personally see a huge amount of opportunities for young professionals
00:07:43
Speaker
And moreover, they have a really now a different background. So consider, for instance, the Greater Tambur moments. So they have a really different approach. They know that we could do the things much better and that we have to do them in this way. And that's why
00:08:02
Speaker
They have more an open-minded and they can really address these topics in a more effective way, probably better than some senior professionals. I think it makes sense. Perhaps like you, for me, a decade working for a real estate developer, and then I moved across and transitioned into sustainability and biophilic design from there. Maybe that means I'm more limited.
00:08:28
Speaker
because I see new generations coming up and they just start on the sustainability path at 2021 and they have really deep knowledge. And I think there's benefits to both. At the moment, we're coexisting, but the new generation coming up are arguably starting even earlier than we were able to. You mentioned the living building challenge. You also have the living product challenge. I think it's important to make that connection between
00:08:52
Speaker
the building itself and the elements that go in and contribute to creating a more regenerative building. Because it's like an ecosystem, right? Without the products to help build the building, one can't live without the other, right? So the product challenge is like a sustainability standard for building components in a sense, right?
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. In fact, ILFI with its frameworks has really covered the entire supply chain because they easily and faster understood. And we also understood that you need to really to adjust the entire supply chain, meaning from the developers up to the end users.
00:09:31
Speaker
Because they're all part of the same big goal to achieve sustainability in the built environment. And I used to say it's something I say trivial, but the building is as a matter of fact an assembly of building products. So where is the real sustainability? So sometimes it's really on the shoulders of building product manufacturers because the way
00:09:53
Speaker
they are producing, they are designing their own products is really key in terms of achieving some sustainability results. And under this perspective, the Living Product Challenge is a fantastic framework. It's really a circular economy, standard, it is a certification, so it is third-party verified. Basically, the application, let's say, of the Living Building Challenge on our company is really producing a specific product in its supply chain, in its factory, in its production line.
00:10:24
Speaker
following regenerative principles, so how they are producing and consuming energy from renewable sources, how they are managing the water cycle, how they are managing the waste products, is the product inspired by biophilia or by bioimicry in some cases, so how they are addressing really this concept of beauty in the way they are producing things,
00:10:45
Speaker
what are the relationships between the company and their stakeholders, the community, their employees. So it's really a very broad and full regenerative approach with really a circular interest in the end and we see that there are some amazing companies that
00:11:07
Speaker
register and certify their products with the Living Product Challenge, EMR Scale Tune M1. For instance, they started with the declared labor, you know, this ingredient labor forbidden products, and then they moved to the Living Product Challenge, they registered all of the catalog, and now they're producing
00:11:23
Speaker
what are considered the more sustainable office furniture, desks, chairs, and so forth and so on. They have been able to avoid some harmful substances that were typical in the furniture industry, like for instance chromium-6, like PVC, formaldehyde, and other harmful ingredients.
00:11:45
Speaker
which implies that you have to put in place some innovative ideas to change your process, transform your production lines, which is not easy, moreover, for some big industry. But these changes that they are making are really beacons of light, and in the industry they can also act as demonstrators.
00:12:09
Speaker
these changes are really possible. And once they do it, the other will come, the other will follow, and it's how basically the bigger change is happening in the industry.
Transparency in Building Industries
00:12:23
Speaker
To place some context on that, you know, a lot of the products with some kind of an eco-label are often really just saying, well, it's non-toxic. It is not doing harm to the indoor air environment. For example, if you place our products in your space or if you use our paint,
00:12:38
Speaker
or use our adhesive. What you're describing is something much more advanced and comprehensive and holistic in that you're looking at a far wider range of factors. So for me, anything that's coming out with a declare or even a living product challenge certification, it's the gold standard. It really is light years ahead of
00:12:59
Speaker
of everything else. I imagine that that means it is also much harder for those companies to satisfy those standards because you're just asking a lot more from them, but they are also surely leading the way, right? They're showing what is possible and perhaps being like the early adopters for the others to then follow. Whereas just getting something to say, well, look, it's low VOC.
00:13:23
Speaker
is not going to be enough, I think, in the future. It might be a basic starting point, but to go beyond that, you need something like what you just described. Yeah, yeah. Well, Matt, you know that there is a big issue with the healthy products and the built environment and the built industry. So let me be very frank on this. So there is always this quote by Dennis Hayes, the former president of the Bodhi Foundation,
00:13:48
Speaker
which is basically the developer that built the bullet center where ILFI, our partner in the US, are based in Seattle. He used to say that being compliant with the norms is only one step above that being illegal and that's true. Sometimes, if you remember, we took like 20 years to ban some harmful substances that we discovered where
00:14:11
Speaker
completely critical and chemistry is running really faster than our capacity to understand what's happening.
00:14:21
Speaker
You know, if the products that we are using in our indoor spaces are healthy, are safe or not. So that's why it's true that could be challenging for these companies to demonstrate how good they are in doing some things, but it's really covering this real address in a sort of social issue.
00:14:41
Speaker
this is dramatically important, so our health and the health of future generations. So we discovered that we need to start asking more from building product manufacturers to put more questions, to request the same level of transparency. For instance, we used to have in the food industry or in the textile industry. So we started learning, let's say, to read into these labels,
00:15:09
Speaker
to put questions. So where the product is coming from, how the product is made, what are the ingredients, if they are harmful or not. So this is crucially important. So that's why it's true that this be challenged, but it's basically covering our right to be healthy in the end. And this is absolutely
00:15:31
Speaker
a level of the bar that we cannot really reduce because this is really very much connected with the health of our persons, our people. It's almost like taking your building to the doctors and the doctor is looking for the unhealthy points and recommending how to improve the health of the building.
00:15:56
Speaker
For many people, it's easier not to worry about that. You know, you think about your own health, maybe think about the quality or the...
00:16:03
Speaker
how your food ingredients have been sourced, but for many people to think about the building or the home you live in, it's just not something. Yeah, they say, no, you're right. They say, OK, the products should be compliant with the norms. OK, that's fine. But probably it's not enough. For instance, we are for sure following this discussion about the PFAS. Now, there was this group of 17 journals and newspapers and magazines from all over Europe that
00:16:30
Speaker
completed this tremendous survey and investigation, let's say, on where is PFAS in Europe and it's everywhere. This is something that is used in the building industry, but not already the building industry in many products.
00:16:50
Speaker
International Futuristic every year is updating this so-called red list and last year they included 11,000 new PFAS numbers in this list so 11,000 not 11, 11,000 so just to say that how is it possible for designers but also for end users to follow all of these processes or all of these developments in the chemical industry
00:17:14
Speaker
So that's why this demand of healthy products, for instance, the clear label is really addressing this request is so important because the question is really what's in the product and is this ingredient harmful or not? You have to tell me, meaning you're building product manufacturers, this is compliant with the
00:17:36
Speaker
the so-called precautionary principle that, for instance, in Europe is pretty common, but in the United States it's not so really accepted in the economical sector. For instance, it's still valid that architects and designers in the US should, let's say, guarantee that the products they use in the buildings are safe, not the manufacturers.
00:18:00
Speaker
So I understand it's completely nonsense. It's the matter of fact that should be really the first to say, okay, my product is totally healthy and safe. That's why I can't put it on the market. It's not the other way around that the end user should demonstrate that the product is safe. You mentioned the relationship there between the architects specifying individual products and imagine, you know, on a complete refurb or a new construction, there's a lot of
00:18:29
Speaker
there's a huge amount of information that they need to gather, to process, and then obviously they've got aesthetic concerns, form and function, they've got budget, they've got a developer client behind them, pushing them in one direction, maybe being pulled in multiple directions at the same time, it's complex.
Guiding Sustainable Architecture with Certifications
00:18:47
Speaker
How does the role of the type of green building certifications that you offer via Living Future Europe, how can that play a role in a way simplifying or providing guidance
00:18:59
Speaker
in that process so that there's a roadmap for them to follow. Is that one of the advantages in doing it or is it more a case of having an extra resource on board who can help to bring new expertise to the consultancy team on a development project?
00:19:17
Speaker
Yes, I would say the work that LFI did, for instance, with the declare label was exactly to reconnect people and designers with the building industry, because in the end, they've been really disconnected in the last decades. So we believe that the products are safe. We believe that the manufacturers are doing their own work properly. Sometimes we need to put more questions to look into and to eat.
00:19:46
Speaker
Just for instance, really, this declared label is very simple. It's sort of an ingredients label for building products where you can find all of the information on the building products. For instance, also the expectancy of life, what would be the final use of the product if the product could be recyclable, compostable, reusable. Also the CO2 emissions number,
00:20:12
Speaker
connected to the product production so that you can also use this data for the life cycle assessment of your building and also of your product itself. So where the product is manufactured. So basically it's a way to provide in a simpler way complex information to end user to the market.
00:20:33
Speaker
These information are available on some databases and as you said, the role that these green building standards have really played in the last decades is really to highlight the importance of this information.
00:20:49
Speaker
Sometimes it could be a bit confusing. I agree with you. There is really a plethora of labels and standards and certifications. Sometimes they're self-declared. Sometimes they're third-party verified. So it's really difficult for end-users and designers. We are really trying to make the things simpler.
00:21:10
Speaker
starting from from the basic question is this product safe or not are there in some harmful or toxic ingredients or substances or not then clearly you as a designer architect and engineer they have they have to couple this information with other performance data because in the end the product should be also performing for the the purpose you you select it if it is like a fluorine or
00:21:36
Speaker
structural element on support and so forth and so on. But yeah, so we have to combine all of these things together, search the right information. There are already some databases available publicly for designers. It's a bit complex. You have to take a really realistic approach, but I would say this is also
00:21:57
Speaker
very interesting and absolutely motivated for the architects and engineers because in the end they are really responsible of the work they are doing and the buildings they are creating and the life of people who will live in those buildings and they will live their life for decades.
Biophilic Design in Pandemic Times
00:22:17
Speaker
So in the end
00:22:18
Speaker
It's a sort of responsibility or a responsible role that the planners, the designers are taking. It's a bit different compared to what happened, let's say, decades ago. We were talking only about some architectural elements, the shape or the layout of a building. We were discussing many times the color of the ceramic tiles, but probably there are more important things to look into.
00:22:47
Speaker
And how do you see then biophilic design fitting into that? I've often thought of it as being this interesting hybrid of healthy buildings or healthy wellness interiors and design and sustainability. But I was interested with your role both on the biophilic society in Europe, but then also with the connection to the ILFI's biophilic design initiative that always seems to get amazing amounts of press. It's popping up on my Google.
00:23:14
Speaker
searches every day, it seems, of their various prizes and awards. So, you know, they're really, it's fantastic. It's great. You know, they're really pushing it. So what's your perspective on how does biophilic design fit into this? Is it both healthy and sustainable or is it some higher level or how do you see that structure?
00:23:32
Speaker
Now, you touched a very good point, Matt, because by chance, let's say, or as I say, not by chance, but the previous version of the standard of living building cell, the 3.1 version, the biophilia concept was embedded in the health and happiness pital. Now with the new version, the fourth version, which has been launched in 2019, it has been moved to the beauty pital. So recognize that biophilia is not only about
00:23:56
Speaker
how healthy the indoor spaces are but it's also something more. It's really addressing the beauty concept of a building and this is very much embedded in the standard living building challenge, the things we are doing. We really discovered that
00:24:16
Speaker
We need to address this concept in a more effective way. This is something, for instance, that popped up dramatically during the pandemic. During the pandemic's time, we were blocking our lockdown in our cities, in our buildings, and we discovered how important it was living in some beautiful and biophilic spaces. For instance, looking out of your window to a park or a garden or some biophilic places.
00:24:42
Speaker
instead of a concrete building. How different was our perception of the world around us, where we were basically obliged to stay in lockdown for more than 90% of our daily time, which is something that basically we are always doing. For instance, at this moment we are both in some enclosed spaces, so all these spaces are designed and made, this is really important. So we started
00:25:12
Speaker
Addressing this concept in a more effective way, we started with this biophilia camp last year in the woods of the South till the end of September, so we basically convened 15 professionals from all over Europe. There was also a couple of people from the Middle East, one person from the United States, so to work and train and live together for four days, really very much connecting with nature.
00:25:35
Speaker
with some indoor and outdoor activities.
Biophilic Society and Upcoming Summit
00:25:38
Speaker
From this biophilic camp, this idea of biophilic society came out. So the biophilic society is not only like the society of biophilic lovers, something like the societies in London in the 19th century. Remember, there were societies for everything. So it's not only the society of biophilic people, biophilic lovers, but it's also the concept that the society could be more biophilic and
00:26:03
Speaker
that our message is really that reconnecting with nature could be really an effective way to save, let's say, our life, let's say, in the next decades and centuries. So this is absolutely important. That's why we started with some activities. I feel society is basically a network, as we used to call it, a leading system of passionate people around Europe and also outside of Europe. We are meeting on a monthly basis.
00:26:33
Speaker
presenting some case studies, some experiences, and now we are organizing, we are working to organize this biophilia summit, which will be online on the 7th of June. It is online because it is the easier way for us to connect the more people possible.
00:26:54
Speaker
even if clearly meeting in person could be a better idea but for the first time the idea is really to have a larger participation and also to address biophilia not only on the architectural sector so not not only by affiliate design but also putting biophilia in connection with other sectors like for instance like with fashion with agriculture
00:27:18
Speaker
with psychology and obviously also with architecture, with photography. So there will be many examples of how we can read biophilia through different lenses. And we are absolutely encouraging your followers to connect on the 7th of June for a full day with a lot of fantastic speakers. We'll include the links to that in the show notes. And then the relationship between
00:27:47
Speaker
the potential of biophilia to create spaces that not only provide beauty, but also mental and physical well-being for the occupants in the space, and then also whilst not doing any harm and ideally giving something back to the environment around it. To transition from that type of concept into restorative sustainability.
Restorative vs. Regenerative Sustainability
00:28:12
Speaker
You use the words earlier, restore and then regenerate. Perhaps it's worth just clarifying
00:28:16
Speaker
And if there's a distinction between them in your mind, if they are two phases, if one leads to the other, and perhaps, yeah, just to understand how we use those terms precisely around restorative sustainability and also regenerative.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah, I should know that that's an important question. So it's important to clarify. So again, start again from biophilia. So biophilia is really embedded in this discussion and conversation about sustainability because reconnecting with nature is something that's important. So one of the main problems and one of the reasons why we came to this situation in terms with this ecological and global crisis is really the fact that
00:28:57
Speaker
We really disconnected from nature, we really didn't understand the natural processes and flows and so forth and so on. And also our life and our activities are really impacting on the environment. And the environment is basically around us and we are part of the environment, we are part of nature, we have the same elements together with other.
00:29:17
Speaker
living species. So we are always in the same situation. The point of sustainability is very important because, you know, sometimes we are so often we are very confused about these terms of sustainability because everyone is really providing, let's say, a different explanation, different description of sustainability.
00:29:40
Speaker
And this is something where we should be very clear. So for us, sustainability is really giving back to the environment what we have been taking off. So it's really a sort of zero point in the diagram. You can imagine the diagram comparing, let's say, our actions and the impact on the environment.
00:30:03
Speaker
So it's really the net zero point in this diagram and we haven't reached out this point as steel. So we are still, for instance, again within the built environment, doing less bed. So we are designing and building buildings that are less consuming, less impacting, doing less harm. So sometimes it's also frustrating because it's always a negative concept.
00:30:28
Speaker
And again, talking about green buildings, there are buildings that are basically doing less harm. They're not even sustainable. They're not still, say, sustainable. For instance, this definition of sustainability is something that also Yvon Chouinard from Patagonia is basically provided the same concept. He says, we shouldn't talk about sustainability until we really gave back to the environment what we took off.
00:30:56
Speaker
So only from that point on we can really talk about sustainability. Moving forward on this sort of ideal S-curve is becoming restorative. So basically and again talking about the built environment or the action we can do in the built environment is really recovering the damage that we did in the past years.
00:31:14
Speaker
because we did a lot of damage, but we can recover this previous situation. Moving forward to a more genetic concept, it means that we should really create the conditions for the built environment, the building system, and the ecosystem around us to thrive in a continuous way, in a permanent way, really as living
00:31:37
Speaker
Organisms say, are we able to conceive like, for instance, a building performing this way? Yes, it's possible. It's also technological and financially viable. So it's like, for instance, a building that is completely done with safe materials that is producing more energy that consumes from renewable sources and so forth and so on, that is, let's say, providing benefits and a positive effect on
00:32:05
Speaker
people and living species and beings and so forth and so on. So it's really a sort of dynamic concept of sustainability. And if we are always, let's say, comparing the effect of our actions in the built environment, what's happening in terms of ecological global crisis, so where we know that we already exceeded
00:32:25
Speaker
exceeded some of the planetary boundaries, we understand immediately that we have the urgency to do much more, to do much better now, without waiting for four years, without planning some magical roadmaps. So we need to act really quickly, immediately,
00:32:47
Speaker
And the good news is that we have all of the expertise, all of the technologies and techniques available, all the materials, the strategies. It's really about to be more convinced and be more responsible of what we are doing and what to talk, basically, and put these concrete strategies into action. And in your advisory services then, how are you working with the industry? Is that typically
00:33:17
Speaker
you collaborating with developers? Are you spreading the message around sustainable buildings and this particular interpretation that you have of how they can do more good at a sort of purely information level? Or are you working at a commercial scale with developers on, for example, tenders or feasibility studies as well?
00:33:37
Speaker
Well, let's say that we are in a situation where we really try to spread the word on all the levels possible and the entire supply chain with different TVs. For instance, we are doing a lot of trainings. Education is really key because it's really also about creating a different culture, as we can imagine.
00:34:00
Speaker
But from the end of last year, we started also provided some advisory services for some specific projects. So we understood that it's important to follow some exemplary projects and bring them forward, let's say, to the end.
00:34:15
Speaker
so that they can become real and they can act really as demonstrators of the feasibility of this concept instead of providing generic answers to all the inquiries we are receiving from Europe as we did after last year. Now we are really following some specific projects. For instance, we are working on a new
00:34:38
Speaker
first full living building challenge, a registered project in Scotland. It's a fantastic pavilion of a huge high school, sorry it's not high school, it's really a school complex with all of the students from the primary to the high school.
00:34:56
Speaker
in Scotland and basically they are working to create this pavilion where they will teach sustainability to their students and also to the community. So a unique place to deal with this concept and for instance we are working together with the design team on this project. We are also following for instance
00:35:16
Speaker
completely different situation standard, small residential building all made in timber in Madrid, which is pursuing both the zero energy and the zero carbon certification, total industrialized. So as you can see, there are many ways to achieve great results. And we are trying, let's say, to work together. We are really working alongside the consultants in this specific situation.
00:35:41
Speaker
in order to make this project become real. So it's basically a role of facilitators. Because once these projects, these buildings are finished, then you can explain the case study, you can explain how you did it, and it's
00:35:58
Speaker
probably the best example that you can provide to your stakeholders because in the end people understand okay this is feasible, this is something I could do and I would like to do for my home, my new school, my new public building or my new office building and you know it's a matter of examples sometimes. Very interesting. Let me ask if I may just one final question because you know both Sano and the region you're in
00:36:24
Speaker
keeps coming up on my radar or has been doing that for well over five or six years, I think something is happening in that part of the world. So I'm really interested to know how much it's feeding you and is it providing inspiration and what is going on in that region because it just seems to be particularly within the context of Italy, which let's be honest is often
00:36:48
Speaker
not necessarily the first country that comes up. We might think of Scandinavian countries that are perhaps leading the way on sustainability.
00:36:56
Speaker
I think there's something happening in that corner of the country where you are. The local autonomous government is really providing a lot of great marketing, let's say. This could be one point. No, it's true. It's a very specific situation in Italy also due to the fact that it's a local autonomous government. It's an autonomous province.
00:37:20
Speaker
You know, all of the public services are managed locally. And sometimes people really understand how their money is coming from taxes has been spent. You know, schools, hospitals are managed by the local government. There are other services like, for instance, police, post and justice that clearly are managed at the national level. So this could be one of the explanation
00:37:49
Speaker
Another explanation is the fact that it's really a sort of a ring in the chain between the Mediterranean and the Nordic environment in the sake of talking from a geographical perspective. Here people are mostly speaking German language so they are very much connected with the German speaking
00:38:11
Speaker
And for instance, you know that Germany and Austria and these countries have been always very keen on energy efficiency things. For instance, here there is a standard that start that would be basically
00:38:28
Speaker
created like already more than 20 years ago in energy efficiency standard which is mandatory for the local local buildings.
Alto Adige's Role in Sustainable Innovation
00:38:36
Speaker
So it started with energy efficiency and then from energy efficiency basically this conversation of sustainability got a broader perspective.
00:38:49
Speaker
It's a small region with 500,000 inhabitants, a lot of nature, a lot of mountains, you know, so in a few minutes we are in the mountains. It could be a sensitive environment, because there could be some trade-offs, like, for instance, how to attract more tourists, which is something that's interesting for the economy, but without impacting on the environment, so this is a huge trade-off. And this is something that is now
00:39:15
Speaker
every day in the news because there is really a tension between these two aspects. So it's an important conversation that probably will take another an hour to be addressed. But again, probably this close proximity with nature is something that inspired people more. I
00:39:37
Speaker
I moved here like years ago, so I'm not from this region as many others did. And I wouldn't return back, let's say, to be frank, I like to be here. And it's considered also, again, the most, probably the most sustainable region in terms of sustainability approach.
00:39:55
Speaker
in Italy. And that's why it's good to be here. There is this Neutek Park, this Neu is an acronym for Nature of Innovation, but it's also a different understanding and terms explanation in German and in Italian, because it's Haas in Italian and it's also new in German. So with the same acronym, the same term, we're basically addressing the three languages.
00:40:18
Speaker
It's absolutely a great place. It's a technological park. It's basically the renovation of an existing aluminum production plant that was used between the two world wars. It's a 12 hectares area acquired by the local government and now under a huge transformation really to create this technological park where there are startups, tech companies and so forth and so on.
00:40:42
Speaker
We settled here in 2018 and it's absolutely a great opportunity to be here to connect with other research centers, companies, startups. It's all about innovation. It's a great initiative, so the idea was really to put all these different actors in the same place.
00:41:04
Speaker
And for the sole fact that you are meeting really at the bar and drinking a coffee and you start talking about your ID. And then you discover that could be a company interested in developing your ID or a research center, starting your ID and moving forward to create something more concrete. So it's basically how this innovation process starts. And that's why it makes sense to have this big, huge facilitator tool to help the innovation thrive here in the region.
00:41:34
Speaker
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. That was really a fascinating conversation. Thanks very much. For anyone interested in connecting with you or learning more about your initiatives or following along, apart from the website, obviously we'll include the links to that. But which social media channels are you using for communications?
00:41:52
Speaker
Well, so we are pretty active on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. So follow Living Future Europe. So we are, let's say, generally updating daily, probably too much. We are doing many things because we understood that there are many topics to cover, you know, the
00:42:10
Speaker
The building industry, the built environment is a bit complex, let's say, touching many angles. So that's why we are really working on some topics that we find very important and key for our development. So please follow us and let us know if you need any information. I'm happy to provide them. Wonderful. Thanks again. Thanks so much.