Akiko Busch writes about design, culture, and nature for a variety of publications. Her most recent book, From the Millpond to the Sea, was published in 2025 by SunyPress. She is also the author of  Everything Else is Bric-a-Brac, Princeton Architectural Press, 2022 and How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency, Penguin Press, 2019. The Incidental Steward, her essays about citizen science and stewardship, was published by Yale University Press in 2013 and awarded an Honorable Mention in the Natural History Literature category of 2013 National Outdoor Book Awards. She is also the author of Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live, The Uncommon Life of Common Objects: Essays on Design and the Everyday, and Nine Ways to Cross a River: Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here.

She was a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine for twenty years, and her essays have appeared in numerous national magazines, newspapers, and exhibition catalogues. She has been a visiting teacher at Bennington College and was on the faculty of the MA Design Research Program at the School of Visual Arts from 2009 until 2020. Her work has been recognized by grants from the Furthermore Foundation, NYFA, and Civitella Ranieri.

She lives in the Hudson Valley and makes it a point to swim across the Hudson River once a year.