Connected to Place
Writing. Speaking. Facilitating | Place-Based Systems Change and Living
The Book
“This remarkable book serves as a clarion call for regeneration—and offers a pathway to get there.” -Scott Sampson, California Academy of Sciences
“Connected to Place is a resounding call…read it and breathe!” -Bill McKibben, founder of Third Act & co-founder of 350.org
“This valuable guide to place-based systems change is filled with helpful examples for planners, educators, and all those who want to make better places.” -Karen Trapenberg Frick, UC Berkeley
“This book is the medicine we need right now. Biggar provides a reassuring roadmap for finding ground and connection.” -Dr. Renee Lertzman, Environmental Psychologist
“Biggar offers a compelling analysis of the growing disconnectedness that lies at the root of our biggest challenges and a clear path forward to reverse it.” -Seth Kaplan, author of Fragile Neighborhood
Speaking
Drawing on his thirty years of facilitating and researching social change, Matt Biggar, Ph.D., speaks about place-based systems change that rebuilds connection in people’s lives and regenerates nature, community, and local economies. Matt offers a positive vision of place-based living for addressing our biggest challenges and shows us how we can get there.
Matt has presented at dozens of national and local gatherings and conferences. Audiences include advocates, planners, local government, policymakers, philanthropists, educators, local business leaders, and others interested in sustainable, just, resilient, and thriving regions, cities, and communities. Matt shares tools and insights that transform change efforts into systems-level impact.
Facilitating
Matt facilitates workshops for collaboratives, groups, and organizations working on change at regional, county, city, and community levels.
In Place-Based Systems Change workshops, participants learn about systems change levers and catalysts and how to apply them to new and existing initiatives and projects for lasting impact. These workshops are for advocates, nonprofit leaders and staff, funders, planners, government leaders and staff, elected officials, educators, and other regional and local changemakers.
In Place-Based Collaboration workshops, participants learn how to build, implement, and adapt local and regional collaboratives for maximum engagement and systems-level impact. These workshops are for existing collaborative teams and leaders, as well as stakeholders from nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and other sectors interested in starting place-based collaboratives
About Matt
Matt Biggar, Ph.D., is the Principal and Founder of Connected to Place, a strategy consulting firm that supports place-based collaboratives, nonprofits, and government agencies with facilitation, strategic planning, and research and advisory services. Matt specializes in the development, implementation, and evaluation of collaborative strategies for systems change.
Matt writes and speaks about place-based systems change and living, and their critical role in turning the tide on our environmental and social crises. He is the author of Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Community, and Local Economies through Systems Change (Cornell University Press, 2025) and several published articles in academic journals and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Matt has thirty years of professional experience as a facilitator, author, speaker, researcher, organizational leader, and educator. He has managed dozens of projects and led and advised successful strategic initiatives throughout his career. Matt's various roles have been in service of advancing equity, building community, and regenerating nature.
He earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2015, where his research involved behavioral science, sustainability, and collective impact.
Matt’s expertise includes systems change, collaborative strategies, collective impact, organizational strategy and growth, community partnership, behavioral science, climate solutions, sustainable transportation, placemaking, qualitative research, and place-based education. He also speaks Spanish and is highly proficient with Google Suite tools.
Connected to Place is located on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. The Ramaytush were the original peoples of Yerba Buena (San Francisco) and one of over 50 Ohlone tribes. The Ohlone and other first peoples across the greater region understood and respected the web of life, living deeply connected to place and maintaining balance with nature for millennia. Today, over 18,500 Ohlone, Miwok, Yokuts, and Patwin peoples live, work, carry on cultural traditions and uphold sacred relations with the land throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.