Brunel’s Bees: How to transform the built environment from home to cities

In this session, Sam Stacey introduces the central ideas behind Brunel’s Bees, a systems-level exploration of why progress in the built environment fails to compound.

Moving beyond familiar explanations such as skills shortages or lack of innovation, the session focuses on learning, memory and stewardship – and why these become decisive once technology and capital are no longer scarce. The session offers attendees a clearer diagnosis of systemic failure, a new language for discussing responsibility and value, and fresh insight into what it would take for improvement to endure.