In this TED Talk, Dr. Joseph Allen, Associate Professor and the Director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, opens by asking the audience to take a long, slow, deep breath, and think about their “Indoor Age”. The average person spends 90% of their life inside. To find our Indoor Age, multiply your age by 0.9. If you live to 80, you’ll have spent 72 years of your life indoors.
We are, as he puts it, “an indoor species.” That means our buildings—homes, schools, offices, and hospitals—exist at the frontlines of public health. Whether we flourish or fall ill is profoundly influenced by how those spaces are designed and maintained.
He wants us to rethink what it truly means to live well. When we think of healthy living, most of us immediately consider things like exercise, nutrition, sleep, and avoiding smoking. All important and good. But Dr. Joseph Allen’s TEDxBoston Talk brings our attention to a critical and too-often-overlooked factor in our wellness: the air we breathe indoors.
In his talk, Dr. Allen explains why we’ve been living in the “sick building era”—by both design and default. But more importantly, he reveals how we can enter a new chapter: the Healthy Building Era. By focusing on health as the north star in our indoor environments, we can change the trajectory of our well-being. At the center of this transformation are five fundamental shifts:
The 5 Fundamental Shifts Laying the Foundation for the Healthy Buildings Era
- Paradigm Shift: There is a recognition that airborne spread is the dominant mode of transmission for respiratory pathogens. This is a correction of a 70-year mistake. And once we recognize airborne transmission is dominant, then we recognize the importance of ventilation and filtration.
- Policy Shift: Ventilation standards have not been based on health. But this 40-year mistake is being corrected, as alignment and consensus form on health-based ventilation standards. Healthier buildings not only help against respiratory pathogens, they also are associated with better cognitive function, fewer missed work and school days, and better math and reading scores for kids. Focusing on Healthy Buildings also impacts the bottom line of businesses – Healthy Buildings are just good business strategies.
- Awareness Shift: The pandemic ushered in a new awareness among the public and media (and scientists) of the importance of indoor air quality. Healthy Buildings are now a mainstream issue.
- Technology Shift: New, affordable sensors make air quality data visible and put power in the hands of occupants. Buildings across the world now measure indoor air quality in real-time
- Climate Shift: There has been a 40-year false notion that healthy or green is an either/or proposition. There are technology solutions today that are technology solutions that break the 40-year false notion that we can (and must) create buildings that are both energy-efficient and healthy.
As Dr. Allen puts it,
“The person who manages your building has a greater impact on your health than your doctor.”
📺 Watch Dr. Joseph Allen’s full TED Talk and discover how the buildings around you can—and should—support your health: