BIOPHILIC CITIES - DIMENSION IN URBAN DESIGN

1. A GESTALT COLLECTIVE URBAN DESIGN FORUM SERIES
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
1ST JULY 2021
BIOPHILIC CITIES :
INTEGRATING NATURE
INTO URBAN DESIGN
ROHAYAH CHE AMAT

2. CONTENT OF PRESENTATION
◦ INTRODUCTION
◦ THEORETICAL BASIS FOR INTEGRATING THE CONCEPTS
OF BIOPHILIC & URBAN DESIGN
◦ BIOPHILIC CITIES
◦ CONCLUSION

3. Definition URBAN DESIGN
The form of cities. The element in the
planning process in finding an
appropriate physical framework for
human activities in cities. Urban is the
characteristic of town or cities;
DESIGN refers to activities as
planning, arranging, sketching,
patterning etc (Carmona et al, 2003).

4. What does the city's form meant to the
people who live there? What can the
city planner do to make the city's
image more vivid and memorable to
the city dweller?

5. How do people perceive?
Source : http://newjerseyurbanism.wordpress.com
Kinaesthetic experience of moving through space according to
Carmona et. al (2003) is an important part of the visual dimension
of urban design and thus is an important factor to consider in
assessing the quality of any townscape.

6. WHAT MAKE A CITY A CITY?
vIdentity — recognition of significant the urban environment that portray
the image
vStructure — that each element is relative to other elements and the
observer, therefore part of a greater system
vMeaning — city’s association with tangible, intangible & history

8. Urban design draws a connection of people and places, urban form and
movement, history and morphology, nature and urban fabric. The three
concepts as fundamental in planning and design the city: sense of place,
experience of place and place making as a design.
Urban design deploying place-making in building and creating the character and
identity of these urban development.

9. Sense of place as “the particular experience of a person in a
particular setting” (Steel, 1981:11) and spirit of place as “the
combination of characteristics that gives some locations a special feel
or personality” (Steel, 1981:11), “Sense is the interaction between
person and place...[and]...depends on spatial form and quality,
culture, temperament, status, experience and current purpose of the
observer” (Lynch, 1960:131).
Norberg-Shulz (1980: 5) defined “spaces where life occurs are places”
and are the result of relationships between actions, conceptions, and
physical attributes.

10. Definition - Biophilia
◦ Erich Fromm coined the terminology of
Biophilia in his book The Heart of Man. Hence,
the concept was interpreted and established by
Edward O. Wilson (1993). It was described as
human passionate of life and promoting well-
being through natural elements.

11. Definition - Biophilic
◦ 'affinity towards nature’ (Wilson,1984), the people’s positive emotions and
attraction for certain living spaces and natural environments, 'attraction to
everything that is alive’ (Fromm,1964), 'innate tendency to focus on life and
lifelike processes’ (Wilson,1993:1), 'innate emotional affiliation of human
beings to another living organism’ (Wilson,1994:31) and 'inborn affinity
human beings have for other forms of life, an affiliation evoked, according
to circumstances, by pleasure, or a sense of security, or awe, or even
fascination blended with revulsion’ (Wilson,1993:360); and 'the inherent
human inclination to affiliate with nature’ (Kellert,2015:3)

12. The literature evidence suggests that in urban design, the concept of
Biophilia that innate relationship between and nature has been
established a way forward before it’s current establishment.
◦ Kevin Lynch's 'The Image of the City’ (1960)and to the influential contribution such as
Gordon Cullen (1971) promoted his townscape visual representation 'Concise of
Townscape’; Bentley et al (1985) on seven attributes of responsive environment; Camillo
Sitte’s (1889) 'City Planning According to Artistic Principles’ posits urban design in three
words : infrastructure, ecology and urbanism; Frederick Law Olmsted with his mission
brought the landscape close to urban population when he designed New York’s Central
Park in 1857; Jane Jacobs’s (1965) 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' key
element in viewing the city as eco-systems, mixed-used developments, bottom-up city
planning and local economies; and Jen Gehl (2010) creating 'Cities for People' suggested
principles in designing quality of urban spaces in the city.

13. ◦ Tuan (1974;1977), Topophilia as “affective bond between people and place or
setting” (1974 :4) and “the human being’s affective ties with the material
environment” (1974 :93). He has sought to view into two environmental element
'space' and 'place' through collective human experience, experiential perspective.
◦ Tuan’s Topophilia has been widely referenced in urban studies and other
environmental disciplines in which offered and interpretation of people towards
environmental experiences.
◦ Biophilic is the terminology concept of design : integrating nature and natural
elements, materials, and form in the built environment. The underpinnings
theoretical frameworks : human experiences and the need for nature
(Biophilia) through design principles and approaches (biophilic design) in
the city-built environment (urban design).

14. Ebenezer
Howard's
Garden City
◦ Olmsted adapted this
concept for urban design, by
planning park systems, and
Howard adapted it for his
Garden Cities concept. It
can be understood as a
Landscape Cities concept
and viewed as a predecessor
of what is now called
Landscape Urbanism.
The Three Magnets Diagram
(below) makes three points:
◦ (1) Town life has good and
bad characteristics
(2) Country life has good
and bad characteristics
(3) Town-Country life can
have all the good things
about life in towns and life
in the country - without any
of the bad things.
Idea incorporated a landscape architecture concept with his social, economic and regional
planning concepts. This landscape architecture concept, as shown above, is based on the
dominant landscape and garden design principle of the nineteenth century: that of
creating a transition from a Beautiful foreground, through a Picturesque, Middle ground
to Figure ground

15. Urban forest provides essential ecological system – to cool
the city and increase comfort level

16. ◦ A considerable amount of research on the restorative environment has
been published and confirmed on human preference for natural rather
than built environment (Kaplan, 1989; 1993).
◦ Grindle et al (2009)concluded from their evaluative review of empirical
studies that devoid of nature may result in discord, which affect the
environment, health, and well-being.
◦ The underpinning definition and theory of biophilic is the science of
creating man-made built environment inspired by nature. The aim is to
continue the culture-nature linkages of individual's connection with
nature in the environment (Kellert et al, 2018; 2016;1012;2011;
2008;2007;2005;1997;1995;1993)

17. ◦ Hitherto, biophilic design is a response to the human need in which by
introducing the natural setting, it connects people with nature and re-establish
the connection in the built environment.
◦ Kellert (2005) categorized Biophilic Design into two:
(1) vernacular or place-based design that create place attachment by connecting
culture, history, ecology within geographic context,
(2) Organic design, natural approach, directly, indirectly and symbolic approach.

18. PLACE ATTACHMENT
◦ Place attachment is the symbolic relationship formed by people giving culturally shared
emotional/affective meanings to a particular space of piece of land that provides the basis
for the individual’s and group’s understanding of and relation to the environment.... Thus,
place attachment is more than an emotional and cognitive experience and includes cultural
beliefs and practices that link people to place.”
(Setha Low, 2012)
◦ The emotional bonding between people and places has been defined as place attachment
(Altman and Low, 1992).

19. ◦ Scannell and Gifford (2010) defines place attachment as:
“A bond between an individual or group and a place that can vary in terms of
spatial level, degree of specificity, and social or physical features of the place, and is
manifested through affective, cognitive, and behavioural psychological processes”.
PLACE ATTACHMENT

20. ◦ Milligan (1998) states that an emotional bond with a place is formed by the meaning
given to a place by the individual, as a result of his interaction with the place.
◦ People have feelings about places as well as beliefs and memories and they act certain
ways in different places.
◦ According to Riley (1992), place attachment may be primarily associated with meanings
and experiences which often involve relationship with other people.
PLACE ATTACHMENT

21. involves
attachment to the
others with whom
individuals
interact in their
place
involves
attachment to the
social group that
the place
represents
social
place
bonding
This type of attachment, and recognition
that the place symbolizes one’s social
group, is closely aligned with place identity.
PLACE ATTACHMENT

22. BIOPHILICDESIGN
PRINCIPLES
ADOPTEDFROM
KELLERT (2005)

23. Wilderness in the cities – enhance physical access to nature

24. Three ways urban gardens may engender
greater biophilia:
◦ (1) the provision of natural elements to
expose urban dwellers to the diversity of
plants, animals, and soils that they would
otherwise not encounter in their daily life;
◦ (2) fostering a greater understanding of
natural processes that affect food
production (e.g., climate processes, pest
control, pollination) and thus the natural
world; and
◦ (3) the provision of a safe space in which
humans can corporeally interact with
nature elements to develop greater
fascination with nature.

25. UNDERSTANDING NATURE OF BIOPHILIC
CITIES (Beatley, 2016)
Biophilic urban design is applied at different scales ranging from a single building to blocks
and neighbourhoods, or a whole city and suggests various shapes, forms, and
implementation offers that suit every scale.

26. 1. Cites are Ecosystems and Habitat
for Many (other) species

27. 2. Nature in the Cities is Multisensory
KELLER FOUNTAIN PARK, PORTLAND
OREGON

28. 3. Nature in the Cities is Both
Large & Small

29. 4. Nature in the City Seen Around Every Corner,
Through Every Window
CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK

30. 5. Nature is Often Hidden in Cities but is still
Knowable
Addison's Walk, a mile-long green space surrounded by the River Cherwell, is well-known to
people in Oxford, England.

31. 6. Nature in the City is Both
Human Designed and Pre-
existing in Wild and Semi-wild

32. An aerial view of Funan. Image: Grant Associates
Robinson Tower is a a 17-storey building with a roof garden that
splits the tower into two sections. Image: Grant Associates
Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay, which was designed by Grant
Associates and WilkinsonEyre. Image: Grant Associates

33. 7. Nature is Mostly
Outside but is Also
found Inside

34. Lehman (2010, 2005 and 2009) suggested 15 guiding
principles for Biophilic urban planning as follows:
1: climate and context; 2: renewable energy for
zero co2 emissions; 3: zero-waste city; 4: water; 5: landscape, gardens
and urban biodiversity;
6: sustainable transport
and good public space:
compact and poly-
centric cities;
8: density and
retrofitting of existing
districts;
9: green buildings and
districts, using passive
design principles;
10: livability, healthy
communities and
mixed-use programs;
11: local food and
short supply chains;
12: cultural heritages,
identity and sense of
place;
13: urban governance,
leadership and best
practice;
14: education, research
and knowledge; and
15: strategies for cities
in developing
countries.
7. local and sustainable
materials with less
embodied energy;

35. GEHL’S 12 QUALITY CRITERIA CONCERNING THE
PEDESTRIAN LANDSCAPE

36. Gehl’s typology of
pedestrian
thoroughfares, example
of pedestrian network
planning.
Image credit: Jan Gehl
Architects

37. Biophilic
Streets
(Cabanek et al, 2020)

38. To articulate human biological sciences and nature into the built environment , Browning et al,
(2014) suggested: “14 patterns of Biophilic Design" for biophilic design enhancement.
Hitherto, both of Kellert et al (2008) and Beatley (2011) proposed strategies for sustainable
design and to reconnect people with the nature (Downtown et al, 2016)

39. Experiences and Attributes of Biophilic
Design
(Kellert and Calabrese, 2015)

40. The High Line Park in New York City is a converted
disused elevated railroad tracks into a biophilic
intervention.

41. PALEY PARK URBAN REFUGE
E 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

42. WHAT ARE
THE
BIOPHILIC
CITIES?
(BEATLEY, 2011)

43. BIOPHILIC CITIES
The vision of Biophilic Cities is put forward and Beatley launched global Biophilic Cities
Network in 2013 and fifteen cities are joining this network. The definition of Biophilic cities
is “cities of abundant nature in close proximity to large numbers of urbanites; biophilic cities are biodiverse
cities, that value, protect and actively restore this biodiversity; that value, protect and actively restore this
biodiversity; biophilic cities are green and growing cities, organic and natural” (Beatley, 2011:45).
Biophilic cities are the sustainable and resilient cities that provide contact with nature to
foster an awareness of and caring for nature (Beatley, 2011; 2013). The vision is integrating
nature, flora and fauna blended with the built environment into its own unique natural setting
and qualities (Kellert et al, 2008; Beatley, 2017).

44. KEY QUALITIES
OF PHYSICAL
DESIGN ON HOW
A BIOPHILIC CITY
SHOULD BE
DESCRIBED AND
DEFINED
(BEATLEY, 2013)

45. Public
Health
Energy
Green
Buildings
Transportation
Waste
Food &
Agriculture
Air
Quality
Land
Use
Water
Freiburg: Germany’s
futuristic city set in a
forest

46. SINGAPORE – CITY OF
GARDEN
“Our basis for urban
planning and its Garden
City origin that predates the
term biophilia by about two
decades inherently
encourages nature into our
built environments” –
Singapore Institute of
Architects

47. Vienna, Austria – Greenest
City in the World
◦ Over 50% of the city is made up of green areas..
◦ Almost half of the city’s inhabitants use public
transport religiously. .
◦ Vienna’s city planning strategy has allowed for an
abundance of city parks, walking paths around the
city, and a national park on the outskirts of the town.

48. Munich, Germany
◦ Munich is known as one of the world’s most walkable cities.
◦ Rapid-transit systems are set to significantly reduce car ownership in
the city in the future..
◦ It’s known to have some of the best air in an urban area anywhere in
the world

49. BERLIN, GERMANY
The city of Berlin has
pioneered the concept of a
Biotope Area Factor (BAF) -
a minimum proportion of a
site in the city centre is
required to contain green
features or elements. It
protects existing parks and
garden under the legislation.

50. Source : Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design by Roger Trancik,1986 Source : Biophilic Cities Casual Path Model Beatley,2016
THE INTEGRATION OF BIOPHILIC &
URBAN DESIGN

51. BENEFITS OF BIOPHILIC URBAN URBAN PLANNING & URBAN
DESIGN (ZIYARI ET AL, 2015)

52. PLACEMAKING
“The art of making places for people, includes the way places work and such matters
as community safety, as well as how they look. It concerns the connections between
people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric, and
the processes for ensuring successful villages, towns and cities’
(CABE, DETR, 2000)
◦ The concept of place, in the sense of a space endowed with unique features that is
fundamental for establishing the identity of the contemporary city, is meant as a key concept
of urban design (Sepe & Pitt,2014)

54. CONCLUSION
Debate continues about the best strategies for the management of Sustainable
Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. There are number of
scientific studies and the issue has grown in importance in light recent adverse
effects created due to detachment from the natural systems in urban development.
Biophilic is an approach by motivating cities development to improve the
attachment and genius loci of the place in term of sustainability goal In order to
promote a convergent approach between biophilic and urban design, three
dimensions have been identified as a framework: ecological feature (natural
resources of the places in determining the identity and character), current built
environment (infrastructures) and functions of the place.

55. THANK YOU