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

Eduardo Blanco, Maibritt Pedersen Zari, Kalina Raskin and Philippe Clergeau
Additional contact information
Eduardo Blanco: Centre d’Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204)/MNHN, 43 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Maibritt Pedersen Zari: School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, VS 2.07, Te Aro Campus, 139 Vivian Street, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
Kalina Raskin: Ceebios, 62 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 60300 Senlis, France
Philippe Clergeau: Centre d’Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204)/MNHN, 43 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: By 2050, 68% of the world’s population will likely live in cities. Human settlements depend on resources, benefits, and services from ecosystems, but they also tend to deplete ecosystem health. To address this situation, a new urban design and planning approach is emerging. Based on regenerative design, ecosystem-level biomimicry, and ecosystem services theories, it proposes designing projects that reconnect urban space to natural ecosystems and regenerate whole socio-ecosystems, contributing to ecosystem health and ecosystem services production. In this paper, we review ecosystems as models for urban design and review recent research on ecosystem services production. We also examine two illustrative case studies using this approach: Lavasa Hill in India and Lloyd Crossing in the U.S.A. With increasing conceptualisation and application, we argue that the approach contributes positive impacts to socio-ecosystems and enables scale jumping of regenerative practices at the urban scale. However, ecosystem-level biomimicry practices in urban design to create regenerative impact still lack crucial integrated knowledge on ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services productions, making it less effective than potentially it could be. We identify crucial gaps in knowledge where further research is needed and pose further relevant research questions to make ecosystem-level biomimicry approaches aiming for regenerative impact more effective.

Keywords: ecosystem services production; ecosystem-level biomimicry; urban regenerative design; sustainable urban design; urban ecosystems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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