Biophilia: Nature-based solutions for sustainable cities

Cities currently face a number of environmental issues which influence the wellbeing and every-day lives of millions worldwide. The latest United Nations projections indicate that world population will reach 10 billion by the year 2050. In response to rapid population growth, we need to find innovative approaches (e.g. biophilia, ecopolis and ecocities) to design more liveable, healthy, sustainable and resilient cities. Urban green infrastructure (UGI) provides multiple ecosystem services and promotes societal wellbeing and health in cities. However, nature-based solutions (NBS) and UGI have rarely been studied in Russian cities. This paper presents the background, research methodology and preliminary results of the Biophilic Vladivostok project. This multidisciplinary study will integrate environmental psychology, ecology, human geography, visual computing, landscape architecture and environmental planning and management. It will also evaluate the potential of NBS for healing unhealthy, poorly urbanised neighbourhoods and suburbs. One of the overall goals of our research is to assess the ecosystem services provided by urban green infrastructure. Specific objectives of this research are: (1) to identify monitoring and evaluation indicators (i.e. biodiversity, percentage of urban green space, green infrastructure, and tree cover fractions) for biophilic planning; (2) to assess ecosystem services (i.e. regulating services such as air quality regulation and carbon storage and sequestration, provisioning food production via edible green infrastructure, identifying cultural services by involving social and psychological methods); and (3) to develop possible applications of biophilic planning within the overall urban landscape of Vladivostok. This research will have a practical outcome and local relevance by improving community awareness and cooperation, i.e. by enhancing quality of life for residents. It can ultimately become a framework for decision making and developing an exemplar future-based tool for creating sustainable cities throughout the Asia-Pacific Region and beyond