Sarah Williams Goldhagen visits Google to discuss how the environments we build profoundly shape our feelings, memories, and well-being, and argues that we must harness this knowledge to construct a world better suited to the human experience.

Taking us on a fascinating journey through some of the world’s best and worst landscapes, buildings, and cityscapes, Goldhagen draws from recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate how people’s experiences of the places they build are central to their well-being, their physical health, their communal and social lives, and even their very sense of themselves. From this foundation, Goldhagen presents a powerful case that societies must use this knowledge to rethink what and how they build: the world needs better-designed, healthier environments that address the complex range of human individual and social needs.

Originally published in June of 2017.

Visit http://youtube.com/TalksAtGoogle/ to watch the video.