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The 5 Questions Podcast
Join us as we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
The 5 Questions Podcast
Green Spaces, Double Profits with Matthieu Mehuys
Landscape architect Matthieu Mehuys reveals how thoughtfully designed green spaces can double property values compared to basic landscaping, based on a compelling 20-year study of identical communities. He shares insights from his award-winning book "12 Universal Laws of Nature" and explains how regenerative landscaping can transform properties while addressing climate change.
• Assessing property potential starts with identifying what isn't working and changing the perception of green spaces from cost centers to value creators
• Well-designed landscapes require less maintenance than conventional approaches when implemented correctly
• Everyday gardeners can contribute to climate change reversal by creating carbon-sink gardens that improve soil health
• Weeds serve as nature's soil restoration team rather than enemies to be eliminated
• Regenerative landscape practices yield multiple benefits: increased property value, improved health, reduced maintenance, and ecological restoration
• Future vision includes creating model communities demonstrating how luxury living can harmoniously integrate with nature
Connect with Matthieu to discover how regenerative landscaping principles can transform your property while creating lasting environmental benefits.
www.paulownia-la.com
The value of the properties where you had green spaces that were well-developed, well-designed and well-integrated. The value of those houses were double, or are today double than the ones where they just do a little bit of grass and trees.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time. Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast. I'm your host, mario Lamar, our guest on today's show. From growing up on a family farm in Belgium to becoming a globetrotting landscape architect and award-winning author, he is on a mission to heal the planet, one garden at a time. Built on regenerative practices, he is transforming how we see land, nature and our role in shaping a greener future. Welcome, mathieu Meyers.
Speaker 1:Thank you Mo.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the show today.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Mario. Thank you for the amazing introduction. Very excited to be on your show.
Speaker 2:Mathieu, the concept of the podcast is very simple. I ask five questions and we get straight to the point. You ready? Yes, let's go Okay. First question I have for you you help farmers and land owners unlock the full potential of their land. What's the first thing you look for when assessing a property?
Speaker 1:Great, question, so the first thing I look for when assessing a property is mostly like what is not working currently, and when I do that assessment I often come to see that people are stuck mostly on, like they get overwhelmed with the amount of weeds that are on their property. Weeds is a huge topic. Most of my colleagues don't even dare to talk about weeds, but I face it head on.
Speaker 2:So that's something.
Speaker 1:Then I also look at the current use of the space, because many people see that the green space, even in real estate projects in office spaces.
Speaker 1:They think oh it's a leftover space, we have to maintain it. It's a cost, and so I like to look at the numbers, like how much are they spending on maintenance? How do they look to that space? Do they see it as something negative? Because most, like I said, most people think like, oh, there's something I have to take care of. Because most, like I said, most people think like, oh, there's something I have to take care of, whereas there's actually huge potential if we look at how we can optimize the use of that space and create huge value, both for the, for creating a higher property value, to increase the, the look and feel, so how people interact with the space. There's tons of health benefits when you do it the right way, if you don't spray and you don't just do lawn and a tree like the the things that most people do.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what I wanted to, to maybe ask your opinion on it, because you know the introduction I I I gave you. Yes, you do work on land, and maybe with some people that just work on their own personal land, but you also work with investors on larger projects where they want to maximize, like you said, the use of their land, maybe even make it eco-friendly where, um, they grow their own vegetables and for the community, uh. So so you also look at bigger projects, not just the, the small garden of mr and and mrs, uh, everyone there, yeah, that's exactly true.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, do you want me to dive deeper?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, maybe maybe, if you don't mind, like uh, what do you look for in those bigger? Because a lot of our audiences are investors with multi-family projects, for example. So so what would you look at when, uh, in a project like that?
Speaker 1:yeah, great question. So, first of all, scale really matters, right? So if I and and at the same time, it doesn't matter, so it's a little bit double, because the laws I wrote a book about it's called 12 universal laws of nature. So the 12, 12 universal laws of nature that I found they apply to the smallest backyard or a balcony garden as well as to a huge thousand acre farm. The laws apply to everything that is outdoors and maybe even to our personal life, so that that is one way that we can look at it.
Speaker 1:But if you can do something on a bigger scale, then obviously you can get way better advantages in so many ways. And but the most important thing is to do before, like starting construction, before thinking of of master planning, all those things. Things is taking a step back and and taking the time to get clear on your vision what, what do you want to create? What do you actually want to leave behind as a real estate investor, because these projects are big. This is like you, it's a legacy for you, right, right, yeah, so getting clear on that. And then also, when, what the research has shown is that. So they in the U S, they did a, a 20 year research showing that there were two communities but exactly the same sizes, so they and they had the same amenities, like the schools were in the same location, they had streets access, so everything outside of the communities were the same. The only difference inside of the communities or the homeowner associations, it was like these bigger developments Right.
Speaker 1:The only difference was that one community or the developers of that community decided OK, we're going to invest a little bit more in creating beautiful green spaces. So, rather than like, and that's what the other developer on the left side did is that they said?
Speaker 1:okay, we'll just do what is expected of us, we will plant some trees and do the lawn and the other property. They said, okay, let's really invest in something beautiful, let's look at design, let's let's choose specific plans and do something unique. And over the next 20 years, the value and, mario, this is incredible the the value of the properties where you had green spaces that were well developed, well designed and well integrated. The value of those houses were double, or are today double than the ones where they just do a little bit of grass and trees. But the plot sizes were the same, the buildings were the same, the accessibility to everything around it was the same. So imagine what the opportunities are for real estate investors if you really doubled down on creating something unique from scratch.
Speaker 2:And that's why I was excited to talk to you today, because not a lot of people are aware of the impact that the right focus on the land could have on a property. We'll go to our second question and, uh, you talk about reversing climate change through gardening can. Can everyday people really make that kind of an impact from their backyard?
Speaker 1:yes, I believe so. So again, there's some like I'm very well connected in the research. So what they figured out?
Speaker 1:In the world, there are two places that are extremely important for how our climates function, so they are the lungs of our planet. So the first areas is the pristine landscapes like the Amazon rainforest, the natural parks in the US, the forests in Canada, that are really really pristine and well protected. These are extremely important um places for our own living. They create oxygen, they they make sure that climate doesn't go crazy, which unfortunately is happening now, because we are losing the balance. Yeah so, but these are important, but what they figured out is that other spaces, specifically in the suburbs of cities, where people are doing their own garden, they're planting different plants, flowers are growing at different times, you're growing their own foods, there's a lot of different plants happening, and that's not only like, not only um, not only does it have to be plants that are from that region. You can also use like a collection of plants from all over the world. So, because there's added value to that.
Speaker 1:so they figured out that people that are gardening and the let's say the the more diverse, the better the better that impact has on the climate, and what I also figured out is that when you do gardening on a regenerative way, which is there's a few principles that you have to follow, like, you don't turn around your soil as much, you keep the soil covered as much as possible, you use high quality compost, you plant very diverse crops that are also very beautiful, that are better for your personal health and actually, in fact mario, that's the crazy thing that nobody talks about when you do it right, it's actually less maintenance, because people think like, oh, if I want to create a beautiful, abundant garden, I'm going to be spending all weekend, yeah, breaking my back on maintaining it.
Speaker 1:That's, that's a whole. That's a whole myth. That's a lie. That that, though, it's actually only the whole, that's a whole myth. That's a lie. That, that, though, it's actually only the gardens that you think are lower in maintenance, like your lawn and cutting the lawn, these are actually way higher in maintenance because you have to spray it, you have to um, your maintenance company is coming, they're doing a bunch of stuff and the bills just keep coming up, yeah, but if you create it regeneratively and you only have to do it once.
Speaker 1:You set it up once, then maintenance goes down crazy.
Speaker 1:So that's another whole topic, that that is a huge benefit of doing in that way, but what what they figured out as well, when you garden in such way, your garden becomes a carbon sink, so we have too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It started it's not actually only our own fault, it it already started 2000 years ago when the Romans started cutting down the forests in Europe. So that was already started, but then mostly industrial revolution and still ongoing today. But what they figured out is like when you do it in such a way, more photosynthesis is happening, and photosynthesis draws carbon dioxide that's in the atmosphere, draws it into the soil. So then you're actually having a direct impact on the environment, both locally, as you're contributing to more wildlife, and high-quality wildlife, not just any animals, but you're contributing to butterflies, bees and all those ecological aspects. You're having fresh air for your family, for yourself.
Speaker 2:this is going to impact your personal health and then also on a bigger scale, for for the for the health of our planet so the short answer is yes, it's possible to make a difference, but you got to know how to do it right, and that's why people should connect with experts like you, uh, to make sure they learn how to do it and it doesn't become a, you know, an added chore on their, on their everyday living. No, you got it exactly right, mario.
Speaker 1:It's like there's science behind it. There's also ancient knowledge that is coming up again. But we could. We don't have to do it the old way. We can use some technologies, like I'm incorporating ai even in my courses, uh. So yeah, there's. There's a lot of fun stuff going on to create a beautiful, abundant farm garden estate, whatever you want to do outside and whatever your goal is like. Some people love to grow vegetables, other love love to have flowers, others just want something that is unique and different in design. It's all possible. You just have to get the expert guidance and know how to do it.
Speaker 2:We'll go to our third question. As an award-winning author, what inspired you to put your story and expertise into a book and what's the message you hope resonates with most people?
Speaker 1:Another great question so the idea of writing a book. It actually just came to me because what I do every year between Christmas and New Year's, I take the time and I sit down and I evaluate my last year and I also look at things that I want to achieve in the next year. And it's like kind of a mini retreat that I just I go to a cabin in the woods or somewhere on the beach so I'm like, no, not too much internet and I can just completely disconnect and then I write down and all of a sudden I wrote down I'm going to write a book. I never really thought about it. I was like, okay, who knows what's going to happen. And two weeks later I get an email from Raymond Aaron, who's also going to be on on um on the ship with with us together at the summit at sea.
Speaker 1:I got an email from him like, hey, if you want to learn how to write a book, give me a, send me a message. And I was like, yeah, this is my sign. Like I just wrote down the goal, two weeks later I get like this email.
Speaker 1:So I worked with him, we developed the book and I was just just thinking like I'm 33 now and since I was five years, I grew up on a farm that became very industrial, but now currently we're changing it to be regenerative, ecological. And I just thought like okay, I have, and I've traveled the world, I've seen many places, I studied landscape architecture. So I thought like I have quite a unique story that not many people have like growing up on a farm plus studying landscape architecture and traveling to many places and I started to see patterns in how do things succeed and why do things fail. And since I was a child, I always wanted to know and understand how things work. Like I took all the toys of my sister that had like mechanical things, I would break them open just to understand the mechanic of it and that's what.
Speaker 1:I did with nature, because nobody really understands how nature works. Just to give, like, one example, weeds are actually mother nature's way to start restoring the health of the soil, mother nature's way to start restoring the health of the soil. So every time that you're maintaining quote-unquote your garden because it's actually disturbing your garden, you're working like the soil and you're removing the weeds and you're shuffling like yeah, is it called scaffolding? Or I don't even know what it's called because I never do it but what is it called?
Speaker 1:like when you're you're raking, shuffling the, shuffling the soil yeah, and you think like it's to clean things up and make it beautiful. Well, what turns out is that when you keep a soil bare, there's no plants on it. Then you're sending a direct message to Mother Nature oh, there's been like an interruption or there's been something wrong. We'll send in the weeds to start restoring the health of the soil because it's disturbed. So weeds are actually just plants that are trying to help you as a gardener, because they add minerals, they're, they're regenerating. So I started to figure out all these patterns that I that I found out through my own experience, talking to people taking courses.
Speaker 1:I did a bunch of stuff and I thought it's time to to synthesize that in a book so that people can start understanding and learning, because once you understand how nature works, it's it kind of clicks in your head and then you go out in your garden and you think differently. You see a weed and you're like. You start becoming curious, like, oh, why is this weed coming here? There's a reason for it. What can we do there? So that's what I do.
Speaker 1:On on, on a micro scale, but then we can also see patterns on a macro level that we apply in design and systems that we create for real estate, for farms and private gardens.
Speaker 2:Let's move on to question number four. Landscape architecture is often viewed just as a design like we mentioned before. Often viewed just as a design like we mentioned before. How do you see it as a tool for activism and global change? Because you have a different view about it?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's a good question. I don't know so much about activism, because if you look at activism per se in the the how I at least perceive it this is like people going on the streets oh, climate change, we have to, the government has to change something, and it's been going on since the 50s or 60s. I don't believe in that, because it's like we have to take our own responsibilities and do it ourselves because we can't rely on the government.
Speaker 1:On top of that, I'm just so excited to do it because it's more beautiful, it's for my clients.
Speaker 2:It's easier to maintain.
Speaker 1:Like the, results are are amazing and for me, I just know that where we have come as a human race, we've, like, pushed the limits of using nature to our own advantage and it has created a lot of wealth and prosperity on our planet, like the, the whole industrial revolution has. And, and how farming, how efficient farming has become, has pretty much eradicated world hunger. There's, there's no more world hunger. I have to correct myself, like in in some conflict areas, but this has more to do with um, wars and political situations like we can. If that wasn't there, we could fix world hunger today. The technologies are so advanced, but that came with a downside that we are extracting everything from nature and we're not putting things back.
Speaker 1:But now we have the science and the knowledge and we see that if you look outside the wildfires in all of the countries, many countries are faced with either they have a super long dry period, no rain for months, and then it does rain, but it comes in such high quantities that the soil just erodes and we're losing topsoil of our planet is getting washed into the ocean, and the topsoil is what keeps us alive, because the topsoil is what gives us food. So we've pushed it too far with advancing and extracting from nature without giving back. And it doesn't have to be that like that, because with the technologies and the innovation that are all actually nature-based and based on on how our planet actually functions, when you start applying that on your development, on your farm, on your private garden, you'll see that there's so much benefits and you're actually solving so many problems. Maybe, as a gardener, you say, oh, I want to reduce the maintenance of my garden and I'm going to solve that problem.
Speaker 2:Well, when you're going to solve that problem, you're going to solve many other problems like your plants will be healthier.
Speaker 1:You have to do less work. The food that is growing in your garden is actually going to make you healthier. You don't have to spray chemicals that are expensive. You don't have to buy a ton of tools that are useless like the whole uh landscape and and well, it's garden center industry. They just they're made to make you fail as a gardener. They just want to keep you busy with the next best tool and the next chemicals thing and and 95 of those things don't work. They actually make it worse.
Speaker 1:Um, so there's there's a lot to say about that a lot of things are made for a visual aspect more than practical aspect yes, but then again, the beauty is the way I in my company, we also put a really high focus on on creating beautiful designs, like in in high-end projects. It's about luxury, using nice materials, getting like something super unique design wise, but just as like an extra bonus. We just solve a bunch of other problems related to weeds and how you maintain your garden and the healthy environment that you create, because most of the, the luxury gardens that are created, they're using a ton of chemicals just to keep it going and to spray the the, the herbs and keep plants somewhat healthy. It's kind of like it's like I say I like to refer it like it's a, it's a guard, it's a person that is constantly on antibiotics or in treatments. So that's how most of the gardens are kept alive.
Speaker 1:But it's not sustainable and both financially and every year after year, we have to add more and more and more. So it's a dead end and if people don't do it now, it's going to become so much harder in the future because the climate is becoming more difficult. Like things that used to work 10 years ago or 20 years ago, they no longer work in the garden because the plants cannot handle it. Yeah, we need to grow a resilient, healthy plants, and that's the that all starts actually with with the soil. If we fix the soil, you fix all. Well, I'm even daring to claim if we can fix the, the soil problems of the world, we can fix any problem like housing crisis, um, mass immigration. All those things are related, interrelated, so, but if we risk, if we take care and we respect of our and we respect our soil, then like there's a very prosperous future for us that's your.
Speaker 2:We're here at our last and final question for today. But, looking to the future, what's your dream project? Uh, what? What legacy do you hope to leave behind through your work?
Speaker 1:a very nice question. So I have like yeah, I think you noticed, mario, from now that I'm I'm not the typical landscape designer that just designs like a normal private garden you certainly have a passion behind it yeah.
Speaker 1:So I like, I love gardening, I love farming, I love, uh developments. I love the power of real estate, because real estate we, there's a lot of money involved we can make big changes in the world. So I love these aspects and my dream project is to bring all of that into one bigger project where we can say, okay, this is like a hundred hectare suburb of a city and we're going to create a model that is the, an example of how we can actually live, live in harmony with nature. Yeah, without having to compromise, because a lot of people think, oh, if we're going to do good for nature, we'll have to live in in huts and and live like we lived a hundred years ago.
Speaker 1:But it doesn't have to be like that. We don't have to compromise in the amount of luxury that we have. In fact, the the well-being and the wellness of the spaces that we don't have to compromise in the amount of luxury that we have. In fact, the well-being and the wellness of the spaces that we live and interact with it's going to increase. We'll live longer, we'll live healthier. So that's a project that I want to create by combining housing that could be luxury housing, affordable housing, adding farms with production in it, and there's this beautiful interconnection of, yeah, this big model of how we can actually live in harmony with nature and leverage the power of nature.
Speaker 2:Well, certainly, we have a lot of real estate investors in our audience and with big projects, and if you connect, if you have a project and you would like to integrate uh landscape a special kind of landscaping where there's a purpose, uh certainly connect with mature because he will help you change uh the outcome of your project for the better. That's here. Thank you so much for being on the show with us today. Uh, I hope that everybody our listeners will take a piece of your wisdom and advice on their journey and we'll speak very soon again.
Speaker 1:Nice. Thank you very much, Mario, for having me. This was great.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in to the 5 Questions Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, like and hit the notification bell on our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode. Stay tuned for more insights and tips to transform your real estate and business game. See you next time.