Perkins Eastman Co-CEO and Executive Director Nick Leahy, along with Sustainability Director Heather Jauregui, participated in a series of interviews this fall with “pioneering CEOs and thought leaders from across the globe on their journey to crafting a sustainable world, with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals as their blueprint.” Acumen International Media spoke with the pair during the United Nations’ Climate Week in New York in September, where they explained their thinking behind their belief that good design is sustainable design. The talk was then posted on CNBC.
The U.N.’s Sustainable Design Goals align closely with those of Perkins Eastman, Jauregui said, because “they take a comprehensive approach to community an individual health” at all scales. “The built environment is the fabric on which we build our communities,” Leahy added, so sustainability becomes an obligation. Climate change is daunting, he said, but design is a part of resolving that. “We are culturally aligning ourselves to be designing buildings that are restorative to the environment, improve people’s quality of life, and are positive additions to the built environment.”