Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Steve Nygren is the founder and CEO of Serenbe, a wellness community created as a model to demonstrate that preserving green space interlaced with agriculture, housing and retail is not only economically viable, but the future of community wellbeing. Nygren, a visionary placemaker—someone who specializes in transforming public spaces into areas that foster community, connection and well-being—has pulled together his expertise in Start in Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense, a blueprint for developing sustainable communities where citizens of all generations can thrive, "and awe is found in everyday moments." He says this requires understanding the following: The unintended consequences of sprawl, and why clustered development supports more green space, more housing and lower costs Why being disconnected from nature and each other is at the root of many environmental, societal and health-related woes Tactics to encourage a local food-based economy (and why that ma