Facilitating change: Biomimicry as a way to create adaptable urban environments

Planet Earth is constantly changing, and with it our living environment. Seasonal variation in temperature and precipitation, as well as long-term climate trends, are but a few examples of change that pose challenges to a settled society. Whereas direction, magnitude, and even character of future changes may be uncertain, we can be confident that tomorrow’s Earth will be different from today’s. At the moment, urban designers respond to an ever-changing living environment by making a snapshot based on predictions about the future. Because of the inherently uncertain nature of the future, a contemporary design is hence partly based on assumptions instead of facts. However, if we can base a design merely on the fact that change will happen, we can focus on the process of change rather than on the outcome and thus better be able to deal with future changes. The goal is to create adaptable urban designs, in order to construct future proof urban environments. The relatively novel theory of ‘biomimicry’ might provide opportunities for the construction of adaptable designs. A biomimicry design approach tries to learn from nature’s successes in order to solve human problems. The theory proposes three levels of learning from nature: the level of form, the level of process, and the level of system. Learning on the level of form is predominantly practised in current applications of biomimicry within fields of research other than urban design. Importantly, there are also six design lessons from nature which represent the theory’s six life’s principles, one of which is ‘adapt to changing conditions’. The theory has been widely acclaimed in other fields of expertise, such as industrial design, architecture, and organisation processes. However, till this day, the theory has not been applied often in urbanism, nor has it been evaluated scientifically in this field. The main research question posed in this report is: How can biomimicry be applied in urban redesign and facilitate change in urban environments? The research evaluates biomimicry: is it just a hype or does it provide a solution for designing our uncertain future? The final result is a general strategy for applying biomimicry in urban redesign. This adds knowledge both to the field of urban design strategies and to the field of biomimicry. It is suggested that the strategy can also be applied in other disciplines. Starting with a literature study, a strategy is developed and tested on two pilot cases in different contexts. These cases both contain an analysis and design of an urban regeneration area: Strijp S in Eindhoven and the Agniesebuurt in Rotterdam. Based on the design results, the strategy is further developed and reflected in order to improve and strengthen the strategy. The strategy consists of eight steps that together form the design strategy (see Figure 1). However, some steps can also be used solely and implemented in other strategies. Different actors can be involved in different steps. In this design strategy, a biologist is consulted in order to understand processes, systems, and forms of nature which could be translated into design implementations. A linkage is created between the disciplines of biology and urban design. Strategies of nature are examined in order to find solutions for the specific problems that are faced in both Eindhoven and Rotterdam. In Eindhoven, the challenge is the transformation of a partly empty former industrial area into a regenerated area. Other problems in Eindhoven that were encountered are the scarce water quantity and temperature changes. This poses future threats to the area. Rotterdam, and specifically the Agniesebuurt also faces problems of future changes in water quantity, water quality and in temperature. These problems formed the starting points for the search for solutions in nature. Human society and natural systems experience similar problems of change like in and thus provides us with proven solutions for coping with unpredictable change i.e. ideas for urban interventions. The ideas are translated into various specific design solutions or abstract concepts and categorized into different scales. Moreover, they show the different consequences for the urban environment. Profound concepts arise because multiple ideas are combined into one concept. The implementations of the nature inspired design ideas in both cases result in an improvement of the adaptability of the area. This is accomplished through two important aspects. First, by taking the topic of change as the starting point for the creation of concepts. And second, through the integration of design interventions at different scales across the urban fabric. Integrating implementations throughout scales results in a profound understanding of design interventions. Adaptability is facilitated by the nature of the ideas derived from nature. The focus is primarily on change itself rather than on the final long-term plan of a possible future scenario. Options are kept open to changing directions, magnitude, and character of functions and implementations. Thus through the application of biomimicry in the field of urban redesign, the urban designer does not create a snapshot of what the future could possibly look like, but instead proposes a possibility for an area to change over time. Though it is important to note that the urban designer must remain critical about nature’s proven lessons. The designer must not take the examples for granted as the ultimate solution for achieving a successful design result per definition, since human society and nature do differ from each other. This research explored the possible added value of the application of biomimicry in urban redesign. The strategy that was constructed through this thorough research, supported with two design proposals, could form a valuable tool worth knowing when designing adaptable urban for unpredictable times to come.Urban regeneration studioUrbanismArchitecture and The Built Environmen