ABOUT | PRESS | LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS

JOHN BROWN is the editor of theslowhome.com and the founder of the Slow Home Movement. He is a registered architect, real estate broker and Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary.
John Brown regularly gives lectures and presentations to general audiences, residential industry professionals, and architecture/ design students about the slow home philosophy and the potential for design to help define a richer and more sustainable approach to where and how we live. To inquire about scheduling a speaking engagement with John Brown, please contact Carina van Olm.

Recent Topics

  • For General Audiences
    • Climate Change and the Credit Crisis: How to future proof your home for turbulent times
    • Would You Like Fries With That Home? The link between fast food and fast houses
    • Close, Simple, Light: Three steps to a richer and more sustainable way of life
  • For Industry Professionals
    • Redesigning Practice: Being successful, doing good work, and making a difference in today's residential construction industry (Architects)
    • Slow Home: How to bring new value to your clients by thinking like a designer (Real Estate)
    • Now What? Understanding customer needs in a post oil post credit crisis world (Construction)
  • For Architecture and Design Students
    • Making A Difference: Architectural Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise
    • Emergent Forms of Residential Practice
    • Practice 2.0: Expanding the role of the designer in a too fast world

Selected Venues

  • Harvard Executive Education Program: Boston
  • Interiors World Forum: Milan Italy
  • International Federation for Housing and Planning Conference: Copenhagen Denmark
  • Tectonics: Making Meaning International Conference: Eindhoven Netherlands
  • Interiors Forum: Glasgow Scotland
  • SHRA International Conference: Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Annual Festival: Toronto
  • RAIC Redefining Practice Lecture Tour (with Sarah Susanka): Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec City
  • AIA National Conference: San Francisco (2009)
  • AIA/ACSA Design Build Conference: Atlanta
  • AIA Regional Conference: Montana
  • Canadian Design Build Institute: Edmonton
  • Quebec Home Builders Association: La Baille
  • Interior Design Show: Vancouver
  • Home and Interior Design Show: Calgary
  • Congress of Residential Architects: Charleston
  • Ontario Association of Architects: Toronto
  • Architecture Institute of British Columbia: Vancouver
  • University of Arkansas
  • Clemson University
  • Philadelphia University
  • Montana State University
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of Toronto






We believe that our homes and neighborhoods should be healthy, vibrant places that uplift the spirit and gracefully fit our needs. We call for an end to poor construction, bad design, misleading marketing, unfair lending practices and environmental neglect in the housing industry. We acknowledge our collective responsibility to create CLOSE, SIMPLE, LIGHT places to live that leave a positive legacy for future generations.

provides design focused information that homeowners can use to improve the quality of how and where they live. It takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. The sprawl of cookie cutter housing that surrounds us is like fast food - standardized, homogenous, and wasteful. It contributes to a too fast life that is bad for us, our cities, and the environment. In the same way that slow food raises awareness of the food we eat and how these choices affect our lives, Slow Home empowers you to take more control of your home and improve the quality of how you live while reducing your environmental impact and futureproofing the long term investment value of your home.