LAI members often share their expertise by contributing to, authoring, and | or publishing industry papers and research documents. The following details LAI Atlanta Chapter published contributions:
Mall Retrofits and the Experiential Economy
On July 13th, 2017 LAI Atlanta Chapter Board Member Bill De St. Aubin, CEO of Sizemore Group, gave a guest lecture as part of a seminar at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design on his most recent research on the experiential economy. The seminar, titled “Urban Retail: Essential Planning, Design, & Management Practices,” was comprised of senior executives and accomplished entrepreneurs in real estate or related industries in the Executive Education program.
Bill’s lecture, along with corresponding white paper, “Mall Retrofits and the Experiential Economy,” provides a sober outlook on the traditional regional mall and retail center. The paper describes the pressure traditional suburban shopping malls are experiencing in staying competitive against the current trends towards urbanization and new experience-focused urban shopping destinations.
The LAI Atlanta Blog article, Mall Retrofits and the Experiential Economy, provides additional details on Bill’s impressive presentation.
Urban Biocycles
On March 28, 2017 the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) issued the groundbreaking Urban Biocycles scoping paper as an introduction to a Circular Economy approach for urban nutrient cycles. The well-researched paper addresses the valuable nutrients within current organic waste streams and how urban environments disrupt nature’s perfected nutrient cycles.
Urban development breaks natural cycles by transporting nutrients outside of their respective cyclic boundaries. Agricultural products are often not consumed within the farm vicinity. Thus, plant | animal remains no longer decompose back into the farm grounds as nutrients for the soil’s microbial community. Two challenges ensue: 1> soils are deprived of nutrients within the cycle and 2> nutrients are deposited outside of the cycle system in the form of food waste and human | animal excrement.
By crafting regenerative nutrient cycles within urban environments, organic streams shift from “expensive waste” to valuable raw materials.
LAI Atlanta Chapter member Holly Elmore of Elemental Impact is listed in the global scoping paper credits as an Expert Input and Case Study Contributor.
The Zero Waste in ACTION Blog article, A Circular Economy Approach for Urban Nutrient Cycles, introduces the prominent EMF paper and summarizes several of the common topics throughout the paper.