The Biophilic Leadership Summit at Serenbe is Focused on the Future

Story at a glance:

• The Biophilic Leadership Summit takes place just outside of Atlanta—on thousands of acres of nature that participants are encouraged to interact with.
• The conference takes place at Serenbe—a growing walkable community focused on health and well-being.

Waking up at Serenbe, you hear the birds chirping before the sun rises. Shortly after, colleagues do sunrise qigong next door before architects, designers, and other biophilic-minded professionals take seats in a light-filled conference room for an intimate day of learning and networking. It’s all part of the Biophilic Leadership Summit.

What is the Biophilic Leadership Summit?

This year’s three-day event took place in late March 2025 at Serenbe—a 30-minute drive from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport but a world away from the hustle of one of the region’s most populous cities. Serenbe, The Biophilic Institute, and Biophilic Cities hosted the annual conference in the bucolic setting, where attendees were also invited to take long walks in nature or practice a little forest therapy during their stays.

“In our eighth year, and sixth in person, the Biophilic Leadership Summit goal remains the same—bringing together top industry thought-leaders in an intimate natural setting to network, build partnerships, and learn from each other as the only multi-day conference entirely focused on biophilic projects,” says Steve Nygren, Serenbe Founder.

Nygren founded Serenbe in 2004, years after he moved his own family to the area and started buying up land that seemed almost too good to be true. He was onto something big; it was an opportunity to live not far from the urban sprawl (with easy access to the world via the airport) but be immersed in nature.

The Growth of Serenbe

Nearly two decades after the Nygren family moved, Serenbe has become a highly sought-after walkable community with instant forest access, more than 1,000 residents, and a bustling social calendar.

“We led an effort to bring a community together—both pro-development and pro-preservationists for a common vision—and we created our own zoning on 40,000 acres. That then became a city because it was different zoning than metro Atlanta. We broke ground on our own land to prove that this concept of biophilic, balanced growth worked,” Nygren says. “We can develop without destroying nature.”

Today Serenbe is 2,000 acres—most of it nature, including trails and farming while the city “center” is made up of the inn and facilities and nearby neighborhoods that are dense and walkable.

“Since its founding 20 years ago, Serenbe has been a model for biophilic living,” Nygren says. “The principles are ingrained throughout the community, aiming to foster personal well-being, community engagement, national security, and global balance through 12 biophilic planning and design elements. As the only multi-day conference focused on biophilia, it’s only natural to host it at Serenbe where attendees can see, and feel, the principles on the ground and in action.”

Leaders Planning for a Healthier Future

Whether at the Summit or not, connecting with nature is a crucial element of biophilia, Nygren says. “While part of the sessions of the Biophilic Leadership Summit are held within a more traditional conference room setting, the room’s large windows overlook the preserved forests that are an important part of Serenbe and biophilia; you are never far from a soft breeze and natural light. The Summit’s program incorporates moments in nature throughout, including forest bathing, wellness walks, and other activities that had them experiencing the many acres of nature within Serenbe and Chattahoochee Hills.”

This year’s speakers talked a lot about the impact of nature on health and well-being, including data on the years that proximity to trees can add to our lives and the human need for direct sunlight. But still, some people don’t know what biophilic design—the strategies that aim to connect architecture, and in particular a building’s occupants, to nature—is, and that underlines the importance of the event.

“We broke ground on Serenbe 21 years ago, and the first residents moved in 20 years ago. We have some kids who’ve grown up here who are coming home from college,” Nygren told attendees during this year’s opening keynote at the Biophilic Leadership Summit. “What an incredible thing to see.”

Many Serenbe residents attended the conference and shared stories with others over cocktails or breakfast, from folks who made the move away from big cities to building professionals who were looking for ways to incorporate more biophilic design principles back at work.

“Some people have been here a long time. Right, Jim?” Nygren joked during the keynote. “Ask them if living here in a biophilic design community results in health, happiness, and harmony. For those who are here for the first time, get out, talk to people, try to figure out how this is all happening in the middle of the woods. There’s nothing logical about anyone who’s moved here,” he laughed. “They don’t have a logical story as to why they needed to, but they felt it. When you’re connecting to nature and each other, you feel it. It isn’t something you logically understand. But that’s what this work is we’re all doing. And you coming here helps us spread that word.”

Looking Ahead

Future summits will include an immersive tour of the surrounding city of Chattahoochee Hills, which is well on its way to becoming a wellness valley of its own with extensive agriculture, from family farms to aquaponics, cultural destinations, and global integrated wellness services, Nygren says. More networking opportunities, additional CEUs, and breakout groups in an invitation-only format are also planned for the future at Serenbe.

Nygren’s first book, Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense, also comes out in fall 2025. The book shares the story of Serenbe as well as Nygren’s motivations for developing the wellness community.

“The book also provides readers ways to incorporate biophilic and sustainable practices into their own sphere of influence and places that they live and work,” he says. “Start In Your Own Backyard will hopefully inspire others to take action and encourage positive change.”

An intimate annual Nygren Placemaking conference will also explore these principles, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, at Serenbe.