Environmental Design Research Association

What Environmental Design Research Association does

Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is an international, interdisciplinary non-profit professional association founded in 1968 by Henry Sanoff and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in North Carolina in 1972. EDRA serves environmental design researchers, design professionals (architects, landscape architects, interior designers, planners), students, academic institutions, and corporate members by bridging theory, research, teaching, and practice around the relationships among people, their built environments, and natural ecosystems. Its core deliverables are an annual conference (currently EDRA57 in Amherst, Massachusetts on regional sustainability), member-tier conferences and webinars, a 24-area Knowledge Network program spanning healthcare, workplace, retail, and children/youth environments, a multi-decade searchable EDRA Conference Proceedings archive offered as a membership benefit, and peer-recognition programs including EDRA CORE, Great Places Awards, the Michael Brill Award, and conference-level Career, Service, Achievement, and Student awards.

The technical platform runs on NoviAMS, a cloud-based association management system that supports membership database, event registration, profile management, invoice/payment processing, and publication distribution; the membership-facing surface was relaunched in March 2026 as the Member Compass portal, with annual and corporate membership tiers plus $50 Guest Pass and Corporate Guest Pass options providing temporary non-member access. Revenue is generated through five streams: recurring membership dues (individual, student, retired professional, not-for-profit, academic, corporate), annual conference registration, paid webinars and archived webinar recordings, Guest and Corporate Guest Passes, and donations (General Fund, EDRA Ambassador Fund, Student Scholarship Fund). Headcount is approximately 13, with operational headquarters in Albany, New York (300 Great Oaks Boulevard, Suite 300) and a mailing address in Washington, DC; no parent company exists and the organization is governed independently by a Board of Directors.

Name

Environmental Design Research Association

Legal name

Environmental Design Research Association

Website

https://edra.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1968

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

EDRA is a 57-year-old international non-profit professional association that advances environmental design research through an annual conference, 24 specialized Knowledge Networks, a multi-decade searchable conference proceedings archive, and peer-recognition programs for researchers, design practitioners, students, and corporate members.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Landscape Architectural Services (541320), Interior Design Services (54141)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Stakeholder Engagement, Indigenous/Tribal Consultation & Social Impact (SIA) (EUAHAAAH)

Keywords

• Environmental design research
• Professional association
• Design conferences
• Evidence-based design
• Built environment research

Headquarters

HQ city

Albany

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: EDRA generates revenue through various membership tiers including individual, student, retired professional, Not-for-Profit, Academic, and Corporate memberships. Members receive benefits including conference registration discounts, access to EDRA Proceedings, awards and recognitions, and career postings.
2. Conference Registration: Annual conference EDRA57 and other events generate revenue through registration fees. The organization holds an annual conference each year.
3. Webinars and Publications: EDRA sells webinars including EDRA WEBINAR and EDRA GPA WEBINAR series. Past webinar recordings and conference proceedings are available for purchase.
4. Guest Passes: Guest Pass ($50 for 30 days) and Corporate Guest Pass (up to 5 people for 30 days) provide non-members access to resources excluding job posts, bulk emails, conference registration, and awards.
5. Giving and Donations: EDRA accepts donations through The General Fund, EDRA Ambassador Fund, and Student Scholarship Fund to support operations and student attendance at conferences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is an international, interdisciplinary nonprofit professional association that advances environmental design research through membership tiers (individual, student, retired, academic, not-for-profit, corporate), an annual conference (EDRA57), educational webinars, EDRA Conference Proceedings, 24 specialized Knowledge Networks, and recognition programs such as EDRA CORE and the Great Places Awards. Members gain access to networking, publications, conference discounts, awards, and career postings.

Product overview

EDRA offers a suite of products and services centered on advancing environmental design research through interdisciplinary collaboration. The core offerings include the annual EDRA57 Conference focused on regional sustainability and environmental networks, the EDRA Webinars covering topics in sustainable construction, biophilic design, and neuroarchitecture, and the EDRA Great Places Awards webinar series celebrating excellence in place design, planning, research, art, and publications. The organization provides membership services with various tiers (individual, student, corporate) offering access to conference proceedings, knowledge networks spanning 25+ specialized areas, and career resources. Additional offerings include donation funds (Student Scholarship, Ambassador, General) supporting student participation and organizational operations, Guest Passes for temporary non-member access, and recognition programs including EDRA CORE certification and the Michael Brill Award. The Member Compass portal serves as the central platform for member engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NoviAMScoreOthersNoviAMS (by Novi Services) provides cloud-based association management software for EDRA's membership database, website functionality, event registration, and publication distribution. NoviAMS does not use or have access to personal information for any purpose other than cloud storage and retrieval.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Urban Land Institute: A global research and education organization focused on land use and real estate. ULI overlaps with EDRA's planning, community design, and sustainability research communities and convenes members through similar conference and publication models.
• International Association for People-Environment Studies: An international scholarly organization focused on people-environment research. IAPS is the closest peer in EDRA's specific environment-behavior research niche and competes for the same academic audiences and conference participation.
• International Facility Management Association: The leading global facility management association. IFMA serves many of the same facility managers and workplace-design professionals EDRA engages, with overlapping content in workplace strategy and post-occupancy evaluation.
• American Society of Interior Designers: The leading U.S. interior design association. ASID serves many of the same interior design professionals EDRA engages, particularly around evidence-based design and post-occupancy evaluation, making it a direct parallel association.
• American Society of Landscape Architects: The principal U.S. professional society for landscape architects. ASLA and EDRA share significant member overlap in landscape architecture research and evidence-based design, and EDRA's dedicated landscape-architecture-adjacent Knowledge Networks (e.g., design research, place-making) compete for the same community attention.
• Architectural Research Centers Consortium: A consortium of university-based architectural research centers. ARCC shares EDRA's focus on advancing architectural and environmental design research and serves an overlapping academic membership base.
• Society for College and University Planning: A membership association for higher-education planning and design professionals. SCUP overlaps with EDRA's evidence-based design and post-occupancy evaluation communities serving campus planners and facilities researchers.

Regional players

• Royal Institute of British Architects: The U.K.'s chartered body for architects. RIBA operates a similar research, awards, and continuing-education model to EDRA but is geographically focused on the U.K. and Europe, making it a regional rather than direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• American Institute of Architects: The largest U.S. architecture professional association. AIA overlaps with EDRA's architect member base and competes for continuing-education mindshare, but operates at a far broader scale and is not research-specialized like EDRA.

Emerging players

• Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture: A research-focused organization at the intersection of neuroscience and the built environment. ANFA occupies an adjacent niche to EDRA's environment-behavior research, particularly around healthcare and therapeutic environments, and targets a similar interdisciplinary academic audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xinstagram.com/edra_environments
• Facebookfacebook.com/edra.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/environmental-design-research-association
• Instagraminstagram.com/edra_environments

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Environmental Design Research Association