Real World: Exploring The Built And Created Environment

Vertical Farming

We explore the history of urban farming and whether empty office buildings may be the next frontier.   We examine cost, necessary resources, and output – in the form of produce – to assess whether urban farming can fill your dinner plate.

Density of Human Habitations

Are you on the urban bandwagon?  Many of today’s urban advocates urge people to move to densely packed urban environments, urging it as a social good.  We explore the link between density and creativity.  We examine how ordinary people have voted with their feet to sort out the density conundrum – and leave you with ideas for doing the same.

Prison Design

We explore how the physical design of many American prisons may increase undesirable behavior and even cause illness.  We learn that simple design choices like light, color, sound and the size of spaces all affect the way we behave in any physical environment.

Telephone Poles

We explore the history of telephone-like poles in the ancient world and discover how they came to be so prominent in the American landscape.  We learn that these apparently tumbledown structures – more than 100 million – are highly engineered structures that showcase shared networks to keep us all connected, and are also creating new habitats for some non-human friends.

Lighting in Healthcare Settings

We explore how light in healthcare settings can retard or accelerate healing – from patients ranging from infants in ICUs to patients with psychiatric disorders. We consider what you can do to obtain maximum benefit for yourself or a loved one from any hospital stay.