Our latest episode is the first one Lindsay and I have recorded with a live audience. We captured this conversation with the brilliant and inspiring Kaarin Knudson on stage at Living Future 25 in Portland, Oregon. What a treat!
Kaarin is an architect, writer, and educator with more than 25 years of experience in design, sustainability, and community building. In 2017, after a decade in architectural practice, she organized the public-interest project Better Housing Together to address Lane County's housing crisis. This work supported the creation of Eugene's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Lane County's first Affordable Housing Action Plan, and Oregon's landmark middle housing reforms. In 2024, she was elected as Mayor of Eugene, Oregon, with 73% of the primary vote and 96% in the general election. She teaches planning and urban design at the University of Oregon, and she speaks at regional and national conferences about sustainable cities, housing, and the work of guiding community change. She is co-author, with Nico Larco, of The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook (Routledge, 2023).
Among many topics, we discussed what this moment is calling us all to do. "We are building new muscles and new relationships and new patterns of behavior with one another," Kaarin said. "This is challenging us to think about how to work in different ways and how to stay focused on the future that we want to build."
She reminded us (all): "The framing of the problem is going to determine the solutions. We have to be the people who are framing the problem in a way that allows the solutions to be more connected, more productive, more about advancing into this future together."
Listen at www.designthefuturepodcast.com/episodes/kaarin-knudson or on your favorite podcast platforms. (Please consider leaving a review on Apple or Spotify; it helps people find us!)
related links
https://design.uoregon.edu/larco-and-knudson-write-handbook-sustainable-urban-design
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Kira Gould Hon. AIA
Kira Gould CONNECT
Mission Hills KS
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