Conceptualising a biophilic services model for urban areas

Abstract

The recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (‘COP 21’) indicated that world leaders are now actively exploring solutions to address the consequences of global warming. One area of consideration is the built environment. A number of challenges have emerged due to the current design of most major cities. The notion of Biophilic Urbanism refers to the use of natural elements as purposeful design features in urban landscapes in order to address climate change issues in rapidly growing economies.

Five case studies and twenty six interviews were conducted to interrogate examples of successful biophilic cities – Portland, Chicago, Toronto, Berlin and Singapore. This investigation was conducted to capture the method of economic enquiry used to inform Biophilic Urbanism. Findings indicated the explicit or implicit use of ecological knowledge in decision making.

We present an extension to the theory of ecosystem services in the form of ‘biophilic services’, which we propose play an influential role in informing decisions regarding whether to incorporate biophilic urbanism in city environments. We also present the underlying logic that appears to be informing biophilic urbanism. The existing Ecosystem Services model for decision making is adapted to provide a decision making flow for biophilic urbanism. Not only do the components of the model (i.e. ‘Pressure’, ‘Context of Value’, ‘Biophilic Services’ and ‘Valuation’) accommodate the iterative, snowballing dynamism necessary within biophilic-related decisions; the model also highlights the significant role of each component in informing the final decision.

We conclude from this study a number of opportunities for governments, as well as for other stakeholders involved in the decision making process, to use economics in a holistic way to strengthen the case for biophilic urbanism.