From Building to Growing Cities

Impact One develops evidence-based models of a true-value economy, establishing a new asset class of infrastructure that places interconnected human and environmental wellbeing at its core. Impact One supports the development of social and environmental infrastructure in cities around the world to serve as models for healthy and climate-positive urban living.

Cities are currently the biggest threat to our ecosphere – and are set to dramatically expand over the next decades.

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of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are generated by cities +

megacities will exist in the world by 2030,10 more than in 2018 +

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of global GDP is generated in cities +

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of the global population is projected to live in urban areas in 2050 +

The race against climate change does not only involve reducing the pollutants that we release into the world, but about creating architectural and social models that naturally regenerate the health of the planet.

Our concept of Wellbeing Infrastructure means:

Climate-positive and health-promoting growth can be achieved if nature-based solutions applied in systemic approaches become an integral and inextricable part of urban development through adaptations of the building code.

Full Lifecycle Impact Design

Impact One monitors ecosystem services by leveraging technology and collective intelligence on comprehensive digital platforms to assess the positive and negative impacts of urban development, nature-based and biodiversity projects.

1. Coordinating research that focuses on health, wellbeing and technological innovation

2. Targeting urban development projects aimed at redesigning cities that promote human and planetary health

3. Accounting of ecosystem services as public infrastructure to ensure climate positive investments

4. Assessing the full environmental and human health impact of new developments and infrastructure

5. Compensating the complete lifecycle impact of built infrastructure beyond ESGs

6. Building spaces that fulfill health-promoting conditions with full atmospheric control

7. Ensuring the optimal day-to-day conditions of operations and general project maintenance

8. Partnering with leading platforms on impact communication and climate change to contribute to regulations

One Health Research Centre

Raising ambitions from a reduction-driven climate policy to positive growth: calling for a nature-positive urban development.

The integration of green infrastructure into our cities provides systemic services towards the reduction of energy consumption, pollution and health risks:

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of Bosco Verticale Milan’s yearly energy consumption was reduced through plant integration in the vertical forest model +

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max. reduction in concentration of particulate matter (PM) measured in cities as an effect of urban vegetation +

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of water pollution can be captured using nature-based solutions +

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maximal reduction in lower surface temperature recorded in an urban forest compared to tarmac +

Bosco One

Bosco One is a joint vision by Stefano Boeri Architetti and Impact One, founded to establish new standards of sustainable architecture, and further develop and scale the concept of the Milan residential towers Bosco Verticale into a global model for the city of the future. Bosco developments showcase an integrated effort of lifecycle compensation, providing evidence-based healthy environments.

A mature tree in the city produces 110 kg of oxygen each year, and absorbs about 400 kg of carbon dioxide. Bringing nature to the cities of the world is no longer just a gesture of good intention by a small minority. These are necessary choices if we want our cities to become the protagonists of change.

Demolition of buildings and infrastructure is responsible for 35% of all waste in the EU. This is why it is crucial for the building sector to transition to a circular economy.

Humans make up only 0,01% of the mass of living beings on Earth, yet 2020 marked the turning point at which the mass of human-produced objects (excluding waste) became greater than the world’s total biomass.

Plants, essential to creating life-supporting conditions on our planet, are being replaced in cities by inert artificial matter.

"We need to bring back to the town nature, and mostly plants. but not just putting plants in the park, along the roads and in the garden. I mean a new town where everything is covered by plants, everything is under the plants, where the plants are inside of the buildings. Did you ask yourself why there are no plants indoors, why in our hospitals, in our schools, in our offices, there are no plants?"

Cities have the potential to become protagonists of a radical change aimed at countering the dramatic effects of carbon emissions by becoming greener, healthier, and more integrated with natural environments.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to the way in which built environments impact human health and health-related behaviours. Studies have shown that:

Citizens spend an average of 85-90% of their time indoors, in buildings that shield us from natural light and provide poor air quality +

Patients with a vitamin D deficiency were 14 times more likely to have a severe or critical case of COVID +

According to WHO, poor indoor air quality is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease and 3.8 million deaths every year +

According to a study by NASA, house plants can purify indoor air and remove up to 87% of the amount of toxins in the air +

One Health Research Centre

The Role Of Wellbeing Infrastructure For Preventive Health

Position paper

Impact One develops solutions that turn infrastructure and the construction industries from major threats to environmental health into drivers of ecosystem protection and regeneration. Our projects promote an evidence-based, nature-positive approach to shift the perspective of building into that of growing cities.

News

Impact One joins the World Economic Forum Davos Baukultur Alliance

Impact One joins the Davos Baukultur Alliance to promote a conscious and quality-oriented approach to urban planning, construction and management. Initiated by the World Economic Forum, the alliance brings together public and private sector stakeholders to improve the planning, construction, and management of buildings, infrastructure, public spaces, and landscapes.

Infrastructure

Our concept of Wellbeing Infrastructure means:

Full Lifecycle Impact Design

One Health Research Centre