Reading the Signals from the Forest
Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium
As cities are projected to add 2.5 billion people by 2050, doubling building stock and tripling urban land use if current patterns continue, the environmental burden will intensify. In response, advocates propose bio-based materials, particularly mass timber, as a lower-emission alternative to steel and concrete. Engineered wood offers benefits such as renewability, lower embodied carbon, and the potential to store carbon in buildings.
We suggest a more regenerative approach: aligning urban construction with ecological forest management. By asking “what the forest can offer,” architects, engineers, and manufacturers could synchronize material demand with sustainable silviculture, support biodiversity, reduce wildfire risk, and utilize underused or invasive species. Advanced data tools, AI, and digital manufacturing could help tailor building systems to regional forest conditions.