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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

5. Build Biophilic Urbanism in the City and Its Bioregion

Authors : Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, Heather Boyer

Published in: Resilient Cities

Publisher: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics

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Abstract

Biophilic urbanism is based on the knowledge that humans have an innate connection with nature that should be expressed in our daily lives, especially in cities. This has not been a strong feature of architectural principles (even though there is a long tradition of landscape architecture), yet potentially it offers great rewards if it is implemented in the structure of the built environment. This chapter looks at the multiple co-benefits of biophilic urbanism within the city and how it can help in overcoming fossil fuel dependence and making a more resilient city.

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See Barbara Schaffer, “Green Visions: Nature as Infrastructure,” Landscape Architecture Australia 146 (May 2015), http://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/green-visions-nature-as-infrastructure/.

For more information about these biophilic city initiatives, see Timothy Beatley, Handbook of Biophilic City Planning & Design (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2017).

City of Vancouver, British Columbia, “Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, Part 2: 2015–2020,” http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/greenest-city-2020-action-plan-2015-2020.pdf.

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Ibid.

Eric Jaffe, “Trees Can Make Waiting for the Bus Feel Shorter,” CityLab, August 13, 2015, http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/08/trees-can-make-waiting-for-the-bus-feel-shorter/401135/.

See Beatley, Biophilic Cities, for a more extensive discussion of Jane Martin and her work.

Singapore’s biophilic urbanism is set out in Newman, “Biophilic Urbanism”; Peter Newman and Annie Matan, Green Urbanism in Asia: The Emerging Green Tigers (Singapore: World Scientific, 2013); and a popular YouTube film by Peter Newman, Tim Beatley, and Linda Blagg, Singapore: Biophilic City, a Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute video posted May 7, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMWOu9xIM_k. Other details can be found in Lena Chan and Ahmed Djoghlaf, “Invitation to Help Compile an Index of Biodiversity in Cities,” Nature 460, no. 33 (July 2, 2009), doi:10.1038/460033a; and Lena Chan, “Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity,” paper presented at World Cities Summit, Singapore, July 3, 2012.

See the Web site for Portland’s Depave, http://depave.org.

Title: Build Biophilic Urbanism in the City and Its Bioregion
Authors: Peter Newman
Timothy Beatley
Heather Boyer
Publisher: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics
Book: Resilient Cities
Print ISBN: 978-1-61091-871-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-61091-686-8

Copyright Year: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-686-8_6

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