{"id":2588,"date":"2026-09-28T12:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petermbach.com\/?page_id=2588"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:51:11","slug":"071-jennifer-koster","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/petermbach.com\/index.php\/podcast\/071-jennifer-koster\/","title":{"rendered":"TGC Podcast Episode 071 – Jennifer Koster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Grand Challengers Podcast Episode #71<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Resilience is the new luxury, for both built and human infrastructure<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Guest: Jennifer Koster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

September 29th, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Koster is a Netherlands-based entrepreneur, systems thinker and author whose career has moved through three industries: technology and media, high-end residential construction in Los Angeles, and regenerative development. She leads WerkWell, a company working between Europe and the United States on construction management, building performance and innovation, and she is the founder of LivWell, which is developing regenerative communities. Her first book, The Truth About Baggage, is forthcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation with host Peter Marcus Bach is organised around what Jennifer calls both sides of infrastructure. On the built side, she describes how a construction defect claim and the waste generated by luxury remodels pushed her towards a different way of working. First came an independent third party that manages the money and the flow of a project. Then came a building performance layer that weighs capital and operating costs together. Moving to the Netherlands in 2020 exposed her to Dutch electrification, heat pumps, crushed and recast low-carbon concrete and a more systemic approach to design. She also explains alternative financing routes such as power purchase agreements and aquifer recharge credits, and why resilience rather than aesthetics is becoming the measure of a valuable building since the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which destroyed the homes of two dozen of her friends and former clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the human side, Jennifer argues that people are systems too, and that schools and workplaces mostly train us to fit standard boxes rather than to understand ourselves. LivWell applies blue zone principles (diet, movement, community and purpose) to fence-free communities with closed-loop energy, water and food systems, starting from degraded land that can be restored. Her book traces a route from recognising the ancestral, childhood and genetic baggage we inherit to building the self-awareness needed to live differently. The episode closes with The Key Questions, covering innovation, time-blocking and her advice to young professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Episode Teaser<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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