Design for Equitable Communities
Design solutions affect more than the client and current occupants. Good design positively impacts the future by helping communities thrive—socially, economically, and environmentally.
Learn more about the AIA Framework for Design Excellence.
Reproduced with permission of The American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Avenue, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20006
Design for Equitable Communities
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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What Makes a Product Green Today?
Feature Article
Lots of manufacturers call their products "green," but are they? Here's our guide to the high-performance attributes that matter.
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Green Design: What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Feature Article
Beauty, place-making, and even love are motivating many green designers, who see these values complementing core sustainability tenets.
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Pest Prevention: Steps Designers Can Take
Feature Article
Integrated pest management (IPM) design strategies can reduce structural damage and unsanitary conditions, and improve our community’s health.
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Why Schools Are Embracing Net-Zero Energy
Feature Article
Schools are leading the way in net-zero energy, but some designers question whether these goals create the best learning environments.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Metal Coatings
Product Guide
These coatings have VOC levels below 50 g/l and contain no chromium, cadmium, or hazardous airborne pollutants.
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Textiles
Product Guide
These high-performance, low-impact fabrics are painstakingly vetted and include biobased synthetics and some natural fibers.
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Countertops
Product Guide
Select the surface that meets the design objectives, meets health and environmental criteria, and has the greatest durability.
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BuildingGreen Announces Top 10 Products for 2021
Product Review
These innovative products reduce carbon emissions and include negative embodied carbon carpet, repurposed EV battery storage, carbon sequestering aggregate, and more.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Biophilia a Hallmark of COTE Top Ten for 2020
News Analysis
2020 AIA COTE Top Ten winners feature daylight, indoor/outdoor spaces, extensive plantings, and exposed wood.
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Rethinking the Architecture of a Racist Legal System
News Analysis
With the conversation on race and justice coming to the forefront, it’s worth thinking through how architecture can contribute to change. -
Implicit Bias Training: Is It Right for Building Professionals?
News Analysis
Bias training is on the minds of many in the green building community—but it might not be as effective as you expect. We should be doing more.
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AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence: A Hook for Firm-wide Change
News Analysis
With design awards on the line, architecture firms are starting to require sustainability tracking across all projects.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Want to Love the Future? First, Figure Out What It Looks Like
Op-Ed
Bringing forth a habitable planet will require energy, ambition, and purpose. What will fuel this work? Not data and doomsaying—instead, imagination.
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COP28: Noise and Progress
Op-Ed
The COP28 politics and protests were crucial, but behind the scenes, it was all about good-faith collaboration, community, and commitments.
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Bring the Noise! It Can Help You Listen.
Op-Ed
Noise-canceling headphones and tightly sealed buildings have more in common than you might think.
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What’s up with LEED v5? Coffee Talk Follow-up and Recording
Blog Post
Our guests reply to the Qs we didn’t get to during our July 26 event. Plus, here’s the recording if you missed it, and USGBC will host several v5 update sessions at Greenbuild.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Feature Article
People from marginalized communities are shockingly underrepresented in the U.S. building industry. It’s past time to change that.
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Equity in Design and Construction: Seven Case Studies
Feature Article
From an affordable multifamily building to an iconic museum, these projects are designed and built to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion -
Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Feature Article
Removal of invasive plants and support of native plantings are critically important for maintaining healthy ecosystems.
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Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Spotlight Report
It may take hundreds or thousands of years to return to pre-industrial-age levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the loss of animal and plant species that is occurring today is, practically speaking, irreversible.
