LF23 - Moving Towards a Living Future
Living Future ‘23
Every year, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) runs a conference called “Living Future” (LF). We were excited to have most of our team available to attend this year’s LF23. The conference invites people from around the world who are working towards the goal of creating a socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative future. ILFI is the organization that has established the Living Building Challenge. This challenge has evolved over the last 10 years to guide and encourage designers, manufacturers, and owners towards building for a better future. The conference allows professionals to connect and collaborate on their findings in their work on these highly regenerative projects.
Our team was fortunate enough to learn from other talented professionals as well as teach about some of our own work. We encouraged each other to pursue our own interests at the conference, there was a lot to learn! Each Collaborator in attendance was asked to share a highlight from their time at LF23.
Our Highlights
Megan’s Highlights
Living Future is an incredible experience. It was great to be back in person with so many incredible and inspiring change agents from across the world. The overall theme was Advocacy and Belonging. While there are some great updates to the building codes, it is still the legally worst thing you can build. It is great to see what some people are doing for advocacy in their regions and still there is much more to do to create a resilient and regenerative ecosystem for all.
The project summit and global summit were my favorites, where we are reminded of how important it is to share knowledge and collaborate because our projects do not end at the property boundary. A big take away for me was on decolonizing the way of thinking about urban agriculture and farming and move to place-based agroecology and foraging.
Kenner’s Highlights
The Project Team Summit that we sponsored used to be a shoulder event but is now a part of the main conference pass. This was a great improvement as the Summit was very well attended. Tables are organized by interest area or Petal (Place, Water, Energy, Health+Happiness, Materials, Equity, Beauty), and you get to interact with members of other project teams in order to help each other overcome challenges. There are so many experts present at Living Future, and there is a real spirit of cooperation instead of competition.
Celeste’s Highlights
This was the first year I have attended Living Future and it was so eye opening to see and meet the entire community of likeminded people that are pushing for change. It's exciting to be part of the collective group when outside the walls of Living Future, the group reduces to individuals. The Global Summit was my favorite session to attend because, as the name suggests, you zoom out and see the bigger picture and get to hear about how other parts of the world are either addressing the same issues or expressing new problems that we might not be exposed to. It was a great way to collaborate and problem solve.
Nic’s Highlights
For one specific reason, LF23 was unlike any conference I had attended previously – every single person in attendance believes in making our natural and constructed world a better, more sustainable place, and does so with the highest level of passion. To be among such caring people with widely ranging interests was an incredible feeling, and I found myself inspired by topics that I had never considered before. Every new connection I made was meaningful and impactful, regardless of whether it was a two second, or 30-minute conversation.
Aimee’s Highlights
While it was refreshing to be around so many like-minded individuals working towards a common goal, I really enjoyed hearing first-hand accounts of peoples’ experiences in their work. Everyone was just as forthright about their project’s complications and failures as they were about the successes. That really spoke to the transparency and commitment to knowledge sharing of everyone in attendance. It was purely an exchange of information. I especially enjoyed the stories about projects that involved educating young students and hearing how they were able to share their new knowledge with their families and communities. The best learning comes from experience.
Hayley’s Highlights
One common thread through LF23, woven into each presentation, and even embedded in the place in which it was held this year, was the urgency of a collaborative effort and a global network. There are so many of us out there who seek solutions and regenerative thinking, but the solutions cannot scale in competition with each other, isolated or guarded. Creating the path with which we can scale these solutions as a global community is crucial.