The Emergence of Biophilic Design

236 Pages·2019·9.717 MB·English

by  Jana Söderlund

Cities and Nature
Jana Söderlund
The Emergence
of Biophilic
Design
Cities and Nature
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Peter Newman, Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin University, Perth, WA,
Australia
Cheryl Desha, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University,
Nathan, QLD, Australia
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ö
Jana S derlund
The Emergence of Biophilic
Design
123
JanaSöderlund
Sustainability PolicyInstitute
Curtin University
Perth, WA,Australia
ISSN 2520-8306 ISSN 2520-8314 (electronic)
Cities andNature
ISBN978-3-030-29812-8 ISBN978-3-030-29813-5 (eBook)
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To people with passion
Passion is the fuel for action
and to
Jett and Bodhi
Foreword
Forward: Jana’s Quest
Jana Söderlund has been on a quest to bring more nature into our homes and
communities. In 2013, she travelled to my home city, Charlottesville, Virginia, to
participate in what became the launch of a new global Biophilic Cities Network.
She presented her work in helping the Australian city of Fremantle (which is now
itself a partner city in the global network) develop and implement an innovative
program for installing and studying small green walls around town. It was a pro-
gram called Green Skins and at our launch event, Jana led a hands-on workshop
designing and building green walls. Her passion and commitment to biophilic
design and planning were clearly evident then. These are things she wears on her
sleeves.
During the conference, one of our keynote speakers, Stephen Kellert, an inspi-
ration to many of us, discussed the important role of beauty. He cited survey data
that Jana had collected about reactions people had to the green walls installed in
Fremantle. Their many ecological benefits are important, to be sure, but Jana had
found that the aesthetic qualities, the beauty that residents experienced when they
sawthem,endedupbeingthemostimportantfactorintheirappeal.Itwas(andis)
animportantinsight:weneednatureincities,inmanyformsandformanyreasons,
but it is often the essential joy and delight that they offer that carries the day.
Most impressively, following the Biophilic Cities launch, Jana embarked on a
remarkable journey around the US to meet with leaders and the “pioneers”, and to
see firsthand the leading biophilic projects and cities, and essentially to document
theemergence and progress ofthis remarkable global movement. Adeep curiosity
and a dogged spirit propelled her forward. Accompanied by supportive son Jett,
Jana covered a remarkable amount of distance in a short period of time to capture
these stories.
Theresultisthebookbeforeyou:animpressiverecordingofthemanyinspiring
leadingideas,peopleandplacesthatmakeup(atleastinthisgenesisphaseof)the
biophilic design movement. It is at once a comprehensive and creative melding of
interviews and field visits, to create a compelling account of this inspiring move-
ment.Itisabitofhopewhenweneeditthemostandwilllikelybecomeastandard
vii
viii Foreword
reference for those in the future seeking to understand what was percolating and
why during this especially formative period.
Thank you Jana!
—Tim Beatley
Biophilia, as it appeared in the design world sparked by E. O. Wilson in Biophilia
(1984) and expanded in The Biophilia Hypothesis (Kellert and Wilson, 1993),
focused on humanity’s evolved need for connection to the natural world. The
recognitionofthisdesiretoaffiliatewithnaturecreatedthefieldofbiophilicdesign
in the built environment. It grew from a relatively small cadre of designers and
researchers into an expansive endeavour touching many fields of design—from
buildings and interior spaces to urban design with the stated goal of enhancing
human health and happiness through ongoing connection to the natural world.
A neglected topic in the rapid growth of biophilic design is the role of human
connectedness. As Jana Söderlund argues in The Emergence of Biophilic Design,
biophiliaisnotjustadesignissue.Itisalsoasocialmovementbuiltaroundtheidea
that connection to nature is a basic human need. It is the recognition of this need
that captured the attention of so many people—not just designers.
Addressing the social underpinnings of biophilic design raises important new
issuesincludingthedemocratisationofbiophilia.Ifconnectiontonatureis,indeed,
an evolved human need, then it is a need shared by all—not just those who can
afford to live in areas with green space and work in buildings with connections to
naturalfeaturesandelements.Anextensivebodyofresearchshowsthatnaturehas
social as well as emotional and physiological benefits.
Thebroadapplicationofbiophilicdesign,especiallyincitieswheremostpeople
now live, is more possible now as it gains wide appeal. Jana Söderlund’s book
opensoureyestotheimportanceofnetworksofpeoplepursuingthissharedvision
for connection to nature in everyday life.
—Judith Heerwagen
“…enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it,
tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it; and thus through the influence of the mind over
thebody,givestheeffectofrefreshingrestandreinvigorationtothewholesystem.”
Frederick Law Olmsted, 1865, An Introduction to Yosemite and Mariposa
Grove: A Preliminary Report
In his letter to the US Congress, on the design for the proposed Yosemite and
Mariposa Grove National Parks, Olmsted was describing the psychological and
physiological benefits of experiencing nature. His observation about these
responses later becomes known as Attention Restoration Theory. In recent years,
neuroscientific studies have confirmed Olmsted’s insights—experiences of nature
do lower stress and change the way the brain operates. These are measured out-
comesofhumansconnectingwithnature,thecoreoftheconceptofbiophilia.The
biophilic design movement seeks to bring those benefits to everyday urban
experiences.
Foreword ix
In addition to lowered stress, improved cognitive function and general
well-being, there is some emerging evidence that experiences of nature encourage
more prosocial behaviours, make us more charitable. With the growing crisis of
climate change and theloss ofother species,the hope isthat biophilic experiences
will change attitudes and political behaviours.
The realisation that humans have now become predominately an urban species,
meanstheneedtoreconnectwiththequalitiesofthenaturalenvironmentinwhich
we evolved are becoming ever more important. Parks, gardens, water features and
natureviewshavelongbeenevidentintheprecinctsofthewealthy.Thatweplace
value on just being able to see these pieces of nature can be seen in real estate
prices,andeveninroomratesforhotels.Todaywemustextendthoseexperiences
to everyone, every day.
This is a lofty, ambitious and necessary goal. It will require us to remake our
buildings and cities, and it must involve more than just a handful of committed
designers. Bringing nature into the daily experience of urban dwellers will require
designers, planners, owners, city officials, citizens—nothing short of a social
movement.
—Bill Browning
Charlottesville, USA Tim Beatley
Seattle, USA Judith Heerwagen
New York, USA Bill Browning
References
KellertSR,WilsonEO(eds)(1993)Thebiophiliahypothesis.IslandPress,Washington,DC
WilsonEO(1984)Biophilia.HarvardUniversityPress,Massachusetts
Preface
Cities around the world are growing dramatically. More people now, in 2019, live
incitiesthaninruralareas(Lehmann2015,p.1).“By2030,60percentoftheworld
population, or 4.9 billion people, are expected to live in urban areas” (Girardet
2015, p. 4). Human settlement has not occurred in such a way before. High fossil
fuel and resource consumption has enabled this expansive urbanisation while
contributing significantly to global warming and climate change (Girardet 2015;
Lehmann2015;OlssonandHaas2014).Yet,citiesarenotonlyexpanding,theyare
changingintheirrolesandintheirfunction.Deindustrialisation,increasedmobility
and a growing service sector have seen urban areas transform into post-industrial
knowledge-based economies of consumption rather than production (Olsson and
Haas 2014). Emerging from this shift in focus of cities’ function is an evolving
changeinform:achangeinthewaybuildingsarebeingdesigned,constructedand
landscaped.
Typically, industrialised cities, with their focus on function, became harsh,
engineered landscapes of paved surfaces and inner-city urban canyons.
Psychoanalyst Fromm (1964), and more recently Salingaros and Masden (2008),
recognised this, proposing that contemporary cities can be viewed as mechanistic,
sterile, industrialised, commoditised and devoid of nature. Fromm (1964) also
argued that urban dwellers were facing a disconnect from nature and loss of the
psychologicalbenefitsthatcanensuefromahealthyhuman–naturerelationship.To
follow a positive, progressive pathway in life Fromm proposed that a love of life
was necessary. He coined the term ‘biophilia’ to express this human–nature con-
nection, with ‘bio’ meaning life and ‘philia’, the opposite of ‘phobia’, meaning
attraction or love (Fromm 1964).
Significantly, years later another scholar, prominent sociobiologist, Edward
Wilson,utilisedFromm’stermbiophiliatodescribeemotionswhichwereprovoked
in a period of immersion in nature (Wilson 1984). Wilson defined biophilia as the
“innate tendency to focus on life and life-like processes” (Wilson 1984, p. 1). His
book, Biophilia, presented a similar perspective to earlier conservationists such as
Naess (1989), though with a perception of the human connection to nature as an
innate, biological need, not solely an inherent interdependence. Traditionally there
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