Steve Nygren: A Visionary for a More Thoughtful Future
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Steve Nygren is more than an author; he is a placemaker who has spent a lifetime building a more thoughtful and sustainable world. As the founder of Serenbe, he offers a rare perspective on how radical common sense can lead to extraordinary communities. In his talks, Steve draws on his experience as a business leader, entrepreneur, and visionary, providing a compelling blueprint for how to build with purpose, lead with values, and create spaces that foster wellness and connection. Whether for developers, civic leaders, corporate teams, or anyone committed to making a difference, a conversation with Steve is an inspiring call to action to start in your own backyard.
TOPICS
Placemaking
Community Development
Wellness Real Estate
Sustainable Living
Land Conservation
Transfer Development Rights
New Urbanism
Biophilia & Biophilic Principles
Agrihoods & Regenerative Organic Farming
Greenfield Building
Green Infrastructure
Integrating Arts into Communities
Hospitality as Third Place
Senior & Intergenerational Living
FEATURED KEYNOTES & OVERVIEW
How and Where We Live Is the Problem
Steve Nygren Says It’s Also the Solution
Start in Your Own Backyard
Radical Common Sense for Reclaiming Our Communities and Ourselves
Radical Common Sense
A New (Old) Way to Build Places That Heal Us
The Way We Live Isn’t Working
How to Reconnect People, Nature, and Place Before It’s Too Late
Designing for Connection
How Our Built Environment Shapes Health, Happiness, and Hope
From Isolation to Integration
The Blueprint for Building Biophilic, Human-Scale Communities
The way we live isn’t working. We’re stressed and overwhelmed. Unhealthy. Anxious. Lonely. We spend too much time indoors, on our screens, in our cars. We’ve outsourced the pieces of our lives that should bring us joy: the raising of our food, the education of our children, the care of our elders. Long conversations with friends are replaced by texts. We’re disconnected from our neighbors, our spirituality, and the rhythms of the natural world.
Steve Nygren, author of Start in Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense, says the root of these problems lies in how we build communities. The remedy is a new approach to development (that’s really an old approach). We need places where we can live immersed in nature and connected to each other in an integrated way, one that protects our earth while nourishing our bodies, souls, and relationships.
This isn’t just theory: Nygren has done it. His decision two decades ago to protect his land in Georgia’s hill country made him an accidental developer. He defied the status quo, broke the rules, leaned into “radical common sense”, and slowly built an award-winning community—Serenbe—where residents live in harmony with nature and each other.
In his book, Nygren shares how he created this biophilic (nature-centered) community and offers a blueprint for others to follow in whatever capacity they choose. Readers will learn:
Why living disconnected from nature and each other has led to many of our environmental, cultural, and health-related woes
Tactics to encourage a local food-based economy (and why that matters)
How small yards, front porches, and blueberry bushes at crosswalks strengthen the fabric of neighborhoods
The benefits of aging in place, and how to nurture connections between uncaged elders and free-range kids
The unintended consequences of sprawl, and why clustered development supports more green space, more housing, and lower costs
Whether you’re a developer, civic leader, business owner, or concerned citizen, you’ll find inspiration, doable tactics, and best practices for building a better community…and a life that truly works for you.
Let Steve Nygren Educate, Inspire, and Motivate
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“We all want a healthier Earth, healthier minds and bodies, and healthier lives for ourselves and our loved ones. When we start taking steps toward creating these things right in our own backyards, our neighbors see what we’re doing and want to join in. One small win leads to another. Momentum grows. Before you know it, we’re making real progress.”
-Steve Nygren, Start In Your Own Backyard
Steve Nygren speaks to a wide range of audiences.
He will gladly tailor his message for your group.
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It’s Up to Us to Save the World—Starting in Our Own Backyards.
Systems like healthcare, government, the economy, and the housing market won’t save us. Only we can do that. Learn why traditional communities are making us sick, lonely, and miserable, and discover tactics for joining like-minded others to create healthier lives for ourselves, our families, and the world.
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Nurture More Nature: How and Why to “Greenify” New and Existing Development.
A biophilic (nature centered) approach to development is less destructive, more conducive to health and happiness, and often, more profitable than traditional models. Learn why future-focused developers are moving in this direction—and how you can join them.
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From Parking Lots to Gathering Spots: Practical Steps to Create Greener, More Vibrant, More Connected Communities.
So you’d love more nature-centric spaces that invite human connection, but feel constrained by existing layout and infrastructure? Steve shares tactics to help you start where you are and make choices that beautify streets and bring people together.
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Serenbe’s Uncaged Elders: A Practical Model for Aging in Place. Too often, seniors are sequestered behind locked doors, gates, and walls. Serenbe’s seven-acre Aging in Place wellness campus takes a radically different approach that keeps seniors at the center of community life and gives them the support, freedom, and intergenerational connection they need to thrive.
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Wellbeing Is a Way of Life (What We’ve Learned at Serenbe).
Drawing from Serenbe’s two-plus decades of growth, Steve shares strategies any community can use to support whole-person health and wellness while maintaining economic resiliency: community design, human-scaled infrastructure, a local food economy, events and amenities, and more.
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Zoning for Happiness: Rethink the Rules and Supercharge Your City’s Vibrancy.
Strict zoning has fostered a disconnect from nature, sedentary lifestyles, socioeconomic division, and loneliness. Learn the benefits of mixed-use zoning, including land preservation, vibrant public spaces, better community health, economic resiliency, and a more balanced tax base.
SAMPLE KEYNOTES
VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS
Steve Nygren Redefines Community
The Biophilia Effect | Steve Nygren & The Biophilic Institute
Walk With Walsh Interview | Steve Nygren at Serenbe
VIDEOS | KEYNOTES
Wellness, Sustainability, and Intergenerational Harmony at Serenbe | Steve Nygren speaks at SLIF
Placemaking | Biophilic Leadership Summit
Keynote Steve Nygren | IGSHPA
UPCOMING EVENTS
Hear Steve Nygren discuss his vision for community and placemaking at a live event and connect in person.