Rashida Moghli selected to Urban Land Institute's Health Leaders Network – HOK
The senior sustainable design specialist in HOK's Houston studio joins 30 international leaders working to improve health and equity in the built environment.
HOK's Rashida Moghly has been named to the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) 2024 Health Leaders Network. This is the seventh cohort that ULI has participated in to investigate strategies to improve public health and social equity. This year's participants include academics, designers, planners, health care providers, social workers, fund managers, and more.
“What I appreciate about this group is that people come together across backgrounds and nationalities to learn from each other,” Mogli said. “It’s also an opportunity for designers like me to share with new audiences how we approach sustainability and wellbeing, and what solutions we can offer.”
The group recently held its first in-person meeting in Philadelphia, where members participated in group workshops, heard from public health experts, met with local leaders, and discussed how the city is addressing social equity. I checked to see if they were working on it. The group plans to meet again in Vancouver this fall and hold a series of virtual conferences and symposiums in between.
Mogli's interest in sustainable design began with an appreciation for sunlight and how architects such as Alvar Aalto use natural light to illuminate their buildings. Having grown up in Houston and Bahrain, both notoriously hot and humid, she understood how design could ensure occupant comfort while limiting a building's emissions and environmental impact.
“For me, sustainability is just the right thing to do,” she said. “People of my generation are very aware of what clean air and water means to us, and that it is not guaranteed. We always need to think holistically, whether or not it includes “possibilities.” ”
