Presentations
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, engaging both ‘the heart’ and ‘the head’.
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.
Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Community, and Local Economies through Systems Change (Book Talks and Interviews)
Recap of Book Tour Events (Jan-Mar 2026)
Local Systems Community, May 2026
Burlingame Rotary, Burlingame, CA. May 2026
University of California, Berkeley, Sustainable Environmental Design Program, April 2026
California College of the Arts, Master of Design, Interaction Design Program, March 2026
California State University Monterey Bay, Envrionmental Studies, Feb 2026
Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement, Canada, February 2026 (recording)
Presidio Center for Sustainable Solutions, February 2026
Pegasus Books, Berkeley, CA., February 2026
Burlingame Community Center, CA, February 2026
SPUR Urban Center, San Francisco, January 2026
DIY Democracy, forthcoming
Collective Impact Forum Podcast, forthcoming
Negotiating Reality Podcast | Apple | Spotify, January 2026
The Transcendent Farmer Podcast | Apple | Spotify December 2025
1869 (Cornell University Press Podcast) | Apple | Spotify, November 2025
Roll Over Easy Radio Show and Podcast | Apple | Spotify (skip to 1:10 for our conversation), October 2025
Audience Feedback
Matt effectively wove together a number of concepts into a compelling narrative that was engaging and insightful, even for someone like me who has been thinking about these issues in various ways for some time now.
You connect issues, ideas, people, and place so brilliantly for change, Matt!
Thank you so much for visiting our class, Matt! Of all the notes I wrote down during your lecture, I keep coming back to these lines: "We find connection in our places. We protect what we love and love only what we know." Thank you for connecting the personal and the collective, and acknowledging the complexity of our modern capitalist society in such a thoughtful and actionable way!
Matt, I was so impressed with your presentation and how you were able to distill all the most important ideas in your book to a half-hour presentation in such a practical way. I loved seeing the actual examples of place-based solutions that you shared as well. We are certainly in an environmental crisis, but I think the audience left feeling hopeful. I know I did!
Matt, thank you for such an incredible event. I really enjoyed learning more about your book, and I can't wait to start reading it!
It was a wonderful event, with lots of practical ideas for getting more people - and students - connected.
It was a lovely conversation, Matt! Folks really enjoyed learning from you and about your book!
It was great having you in class, Matt! Keep up the great work. Huge fan!
Was looking forward to tonight’s event at SPUR, organized by Matt Biggar, and it did not disappoint!
I was glad to have made it out this week - despite some soggy February weather! - to a conversation with Matt Biggar and Scott Sampson about Matt's new book, Connected to Place. Connection to land truly matters. As does connection to people! Grateful for the insight and wisdom Matt and Scott shared, and for the generative dialogue they sparked. I recommend you check out Matt’s book.
What I appreciated about the discussion is that it doesn't have to be hard. We can be ok with the messiness and still find the joy in working with others to understand and figure out it out.
Related Pre-Book Tour Talks
Economic Roundtable of San Francisco, July 2025
Northern California Green Fondo Climate Ride, May 2025
CA Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, February 2025
Citizens Environmental Council of Burlingame, November 2024
Stanford Social Ecology Lab, November 2024
Well-Being Economy Alliance of California. February 2024 (video)
Burlingame Rotary, Burlingame, CA. March 2023
Place-Based Systems Change Projects
Building Relationships and Knowledge for Community-led Climate Resilience, Climate Summit of San Mateo County, October 2025
Advancing Safe Routes to School through City-School Collaboration, Technical Support, and a Systems Change Approach, San Mateo County Safe Routes to School Program, September 2025
Making Place-Based Systems Change Happen (co-presenter, a Safe Routes to School Partnership Model)
San Mateo County RICAPS Climate Collaborative Convening, December 2025
CA Active Transportation Program Symposium, UC Davis, October 2025
Lifesavers Conference on Roadway Safety, March 2025
National Safe Routes to School Conference, October 2024
San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative. May 2024
Collective Impact Action Summit. May 2024
Designing Place-Based Systems Change
Designing Place-Based Systems for Collective Well-Being. University of San Francisco Department of Art+Architecture, Design Program. October 2021
Place-Based Systems: A Framework for Local Climate+ Planning and the Role of Collaboratives. San Mateo County Regionally Integrated Climate Action Planning Suite (RICAPS), CA. June 2021
Planning for Collective Climate Goals in San Mateo County workshops. Thrive Alliance, San Mateo County, CA. September (video), October (video), and December (video) 2021
Place-Based Living and Action
Keynote Panel. Environmental Youth Leadership Summit. San Mateo County Office of Education. October 2023
Taking Local Action and How Strengthening Connections to Your Place is Better for You, Your Community, and the Environment. Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA. March 2021
Living Locally: How Strengthening Connections to Place is Better for You, Your Community, and the Planet. Citizens Environmental Council. Burlingame, CA. September 2020
Strategic Place-Based Collaboration
Building Community Authority in Place-Based Collaboration (recording). Collective Impact Forum Podcast. September 2022
Designing Community-Led Systems Change. University of San Francisco Department of Art+Architecture, Design Program. October 2021
San Mateo County Safe Routes to School, CA. December 2021 (video)
Animal Conference, Oklahoma City, OK. August 2021
Place-Based Collaboratives, 2015-2019
Matt presented at the national Collective Impact Convening, Children & Nature Network International Conference, North American Association for the Advancement of Environmental Education Conference, California Outdoor Engagement Coalition Gathering, Stanford University Social Ecology Lab, and Presidio Graduate School of Business. Topics included building strategic networks and collaboratives, research insights on collective impact, elements of effective place-based networks and collaboratives, and cross-sector partnerships with school districts.
Behavioral Science, Sustainability and Systems Change (Transportation), 2013-2017
Matt presented at the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference (3 times), Bay Area Climate Literacy Impact Collaborative, and North American Association for the Advancement of Environmental Education. Matt led a workshop at SPUR, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, and a webinar for Net Impact. Topics included how social context, community design, education, and other conditions shape our everyday life choices; and how these choices and lifestyles are influenced by different human needs, past experience, and competency in performing specific behaviors.