Lauren Zimmermann Lauren is the Sustainable Building and Deconstruction Specialist in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability at the City of Portland. She conducts research and collaborates with other cities, regional councils, and national coalitions to develop policy recommendations that will reduce the embodied carbon of building materials, construction practices, and construction waste management in Portland. She grew passionate about bio-based and reused materials while learning to build a strawbale passive house in Moab, Utah in 2012. After years of building houses and managing sustainable practices at Ankrom Moisan Architects, she brings this practical and design background to low-carbon construction from the policy side, focusing on promoting a thriving regional building materials economy.