We created the Building H Index to put a spotlight on the ways that companies in the entertainment, food, housing and transportation industries affect day-to-day behavior and to spark conversations about how they can achieve more positive impacts. For the next iteration of the Index, we’re seeking people with health backgrounds to help us rate the impacts that different companies have. It’s a quick volunteer opportunity and a valuable contribution to our mission. Details, including the signup form, are here.

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Building H sponsored a team at the University of Washington to create a speculative design of a mobility-as-a-service app that would unite different transportation modes and — crucially — enable users to specify and ultimately align their values to their choices. The design, the lessons learned, and the background on the project are all now available on our website.

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We’re out with two new reports from our survey on modern life and health behavior. The first, on entertainment, focuses on the roles that video streaming, mobile gaming and screen time in general play in our everyday health behaviors — how they affect our sleep and social connection, in particular. The second focuses on sleep — how much we’re getting (for most of us, not enough), the racial and gender disparities in sleep, and what gets in the way.

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Building H was given an honorable mention as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for 2021. We were recognized for our core premise -- that we have to build health back into everyday life -- and the work we’ve developed on an approach to assessing the impact of popular products and services on health-related behaviors.

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The initial results are out from a set of original surveys we conducted on health-related behaviors and the influence of popular products and services. The surveys covered topics like eating habits, routine physical activity, sleep patterns, social activity, time spent outdoors, transportation habits and use of services like video streaming, food delivery apps, ride hailing, bike share and mobile gaming. We’ve just posted our first article from the project.

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Co-living, “living at work,” 15-minute cities, and tensions between smart home technology and privacy — these are some of the trends we explore in a new “bonus edition” of our regular newsletter that focuses on the intersection of architecture, community development and health.

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Building H co-founder Steve Downs co-authored a commentary, along with physician and behavioral scientist Kevin Volpp, that just came out in NEJM Catalyst. Downs and Volpp argue that the persistent long-term growth of chronic diseases in the U.S. cannot be reversed by relying on individual behavior change strategies.

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We just came out with a “bonus edition” of our regular newsletter that drilled down on one topic area — social connection. The report covers key opportunities, new research findings, developments and trends, companies to watch and recommended reading.

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We just published our second piece in a series of profiles of entrepreneurs who are building health into everyday life. Susan Williams interviewed Tiffany Chu, co-founder of Remix, a collaborative mapping platform for transportation decision-making.

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We published the first of a series of profiles of entrepreneurs who are building health into everyday life. Susan Williams interviewed Michael Herf, co-founder of f.lux, which brings circadian science to the light that surrounds us, better aligning the color of artificial light with the natural light experienced at that time of day.

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Steve Downs catches up with Emily Anthes, author of The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health and Happiness.

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We’ve launched our Building H Medium publication with a post by Steve Downs on the idea of going “health positive.”

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Building H is working on a project, led by IDEO CoLab and supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to imagine how we might design health into everyday life…

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