Findings of Case-Study Analysis: System-Level Biomimicry in Built-Environment Design

Abstract

Complex systems challenges like those facing 21st-century humanity, require system-level solutions that avoid siloed or unnecessarily narrow responses. System-level biomimicry aims to identify and adopt design approaches that have been developed and refined within ecosystems over 3.8 billion years of evolution. While not new, system-level biomimetic solutions have been less widely applied in urban design than the ‘form’ and ‘process’ level counterparts. This paper explores insights from a selection of system-level case studies in the built environment, using meta-analysis to investigate common challenges and priorities from these projects to support knowledge-sharing and continued development in the field. Using a grounded research approach, common themes are distilled, and findings presented regarding success and barriers to implementation and scaling. Considering the findings, and drawing on complex adaptive systems theory, the paper posits opportunities to facilitate broader implementation and mainstreaming of system-level biomimetic design approaches in the built environment.

Biomimicry for Regenerative Built Environments: Mapping Design Strategies for Producing Ecosystem Services

“…To facilitate the usability of the diagram, icons were used as background images for the ecosystem services categories (see Table 1) and representative photos were used as element images for the case studies. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) identified between elements (ecosystem services, subcategories, design strategies, and case studies). (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) identified between elements (ecosystem services, subcategories, design strategies, and case studies).…”

“…Furthermore, the diagram also potentially allows ecologists to better understand and adapt to the needs of designers and design thinking when working in interdisciplinary contexts. This interdisciplinary collaboration is an important requirement for effective work toward the creation of a regenerative built environment [1]. What makes the online platform and interactive database of ecosystem services focused design methods, strategies, and case studies unique, is that it is accessible as it is being developed, it is interactive, and it is a researched based collaboration between design and ecology/ biology academics.…”

“…Schematic visualization of inner-circle, or inter-circle relationships line connections(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) identified between elements (ecosystem services, subcategories, design strategies, and case studies).…”

Urban Ecosystem-Level Biomimicry and Regenerative Design: Linking Ecosystem Functioning and Urban Built Environments

“…To engage with these challenges, regenerative design aims to create urban projects that promote positive impacts, allowing social and ecological systems to co-evolve and thrive [4,5]. In this context, there is significant evidence that a new regenerative urban design approach is emerging which relies on ecosystem-level biomimicry theories to integrate and more fully take account of ecosystem health alongside urbanisation processes, and therefore contributes to the possibility that the regenerative paradigm shift can 'scale jump' to beyond the building scale to the urban scale [6,7].…”

Enabling Biomimetic Place-Based Design at Scale

“…The BPD approach to generating design concepts requires expert research and translation across disciplines, with involvement from biologists, designers, engineers, and other industry, government, and academia partners. Early piloting of biomimetic design has identified the time and resource-intensive 'upfront research burden' as a key challenge and barrier to broader uptake [9]. As such, a recently emerging practice is to conduct this type of study for a region or ecosystem type, rather than an individual project site.…”