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What is The Future for Cities?Author: Fanni Melles
WTF for Cities? is a platform to introduce and connect people who are actively and consciously working on the future of cities and to introduce research about the future of cities. Language: en Genres: Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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437R_Biodiver_Cities: An exploration of how architecture and urban design can regenerate ecosystem services (research debate)
Episode 437
Monday, 15 June, 2026
Are you interested in how to regenerate urban ecosystem services? Our debate today works with the article titled Biodiver_Cities: An exploration of how architecture and urban design can regenerate ecosystem services from 2019, by Jennifer Koat and Maibritt Pedersen Zari, presented at the 53rd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2019. This is a great preparation to our next interview with Joris de Leeuw in episode 438 talking about the opportunities within regeneration. Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how regenerative architecture and urban design can actively restore ecosystem services. This article proposes the integration of biophilic design principles and ecosystem biomimicry to improve socio-ecological health.Find the article through this link.Abstract: Architecture can play a crucial role in supporting ecosystems and reducing biodiversity loss in urban environments. With predicted urban population increase and a subsequent need for more housing, how buildings and infrastructure is designed will have a direct impact on surrounding ecosystems and biodiversity. Therefore, the built environment design should include careful consideration of how to actively integrate with and regenerate ecosystem services and biodiversity. Through emulating ecosystems and their functions using an ecosystem services framework, and through incorporating biophilic design principles, a regenerative design practice may emerge that positively impacts socio-ecological systems from a health and wellbeing perspective. This research explores this proposition through a design-led research methodology, combining ecological and environmental psychology knowledge into architectural design practice. The outcomes range from neighbourhood scales through to architectural, and focus on retrofit and new build design. Wellington, New Zealand is the site of the design research. New Zealand’s biodiversity is unique, having evolved free from most land-based mammals before humans introduced non-indigenous species. The research concludes that through an ecosystem services and biophilic design framework, architecture can have a positive roles in ecosystems, from both a technical perspective and as an influencer of user behaviour.Connected episodes you might be interested in:No.111 - Interview with Dave Hakkens about rethinking the urban fabricNo.265R - Regeneration towards suitability: A decision-making framework for determining urban regeneration mode and strategiesNo.266 - Interview with Alison Whitten about urban regenerationYou can find the transcript through this linkWhat was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also availableI hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning inEpisode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
