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Biophilic Design & Cities
125 Plays3 years ago
Welcome to episode 52 of the Green & Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today.
I’m your host, Matt Morley, founder of Biofilico healthy buildings and this time around I’m in Perth, Western Australia talking biophilic urbanism and biophilic cities with Dr. Jana Söderlund.
Jana did her PhD on biophilic design as an emergent social movement. She has an honours degree in environmental science and has spent her career as a sustainability consultant, environmental educator, tutor, lecturer, and presenter.
She is a member of the global Biophilic Cities steering committee, Chair of Biophilic Cities Australia, Director of Biophilic Solutions and a Curtin University associate. Currently, she is a tutor for Oxford University in partnership with Pearson.
We discuss the history and origins of the biophilic design concept. the biophilia hypothesis, applying biophilia at an architectural and even urban planning scale; how biophilic design incorporates benefits for people and planet, wellbeing and sustainability; the multiple benefits of installing green roofs on urban rooftops; public-private partnerships in urban level interventions; the benefits of biophilic design in schools and prisons, as well as the importance of beauty in biophilic design.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 52
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to episode 52 of the Green and Healthy Places podcast, in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today. I'm your host, Matt Morley, founder of Biophilico Healthy Buildings. This time around, I'm in Perth, Western Australia, talking biophilic urbanism with Dr. Yana Soderlund.
Dr. Yana Soderlund's Background and Biophilic Design
00:00:33
Speaker
Yana did her PhD on biophilic design as an emergent social movement
00:00:38
Speaker
She has an honors degree in environmental science and has spent her career as a sustainability consultant, an educator, tutor, lecturer, and presenter. Currently, she is a director of Green Roofs Australasia, director of design by nature, and adjunct research fellow at Curtin University, as well as chair of Biophilic Cities Australia, with a role on the global Biophilic Cities Steering Committee. We discussed the history and origins of the biophilic design concept,
00:01:07
Speaker
We look at the biophilia hypothesis, applying biophilia at an architectural and even urban planning scale, how biophilic design incorporates benefits for both people and planet, that's wellbeing and sustainability, the benefits of biophilic design in schools and even prisons, look out for that bit, as well as the importance of beauty in biophilic design.
History and Importance of Biophilic Design
00:01:29
Speaker
So here she is, Dr. Janne Sutherland.
00:01:31
Speaker
Welcome to the Green and Healthy Places podcast. Thanks for joining us today. You've been in this for a while. I'm really interested to understand how your concept of biophilic design has perhaps evolved over the years on how you currently define it and its key characteristics. There are various models out there. There are various theorists who
00:01:53
Speaker
have attempted to pin it down and put it into 14 categories or boxes or what have you. You're out there, you're working in this field. What's your current working model of how you apply biophilic design? It'd probably be good if you're OK if I start from how it emerged, like a little bit of the history of biophilic design, because that really frames how I view it now, I think.
00:02:22
Speaker
And this is what's part of my research. So it started with Eric from a psychoanalyst in the sixties who wrote a book called The Heart of Man. And he posited that as humans, we suffer an anxiety about a separation from nature. And in seeking to overcome this anxiety, we go down two pathways. You know, we have a choice, regressive or progressive. And the regressive is where there's necrophilia and
00:02:52
Speaker
You're controlled by religion and rules and, you know, you suppress that anxiety. And the progressive path is what it calls the Buddha path about altruism and where you overcome this anxiety and connect with nature. And that's where biophilia sits as a love of life.
Integration in Urban Planning and Architecture
00:03:13
Speaker
All right. So then you had that then Eric Wilson went in and he spent a period
00:03:21
Speaker
immersed deeply in nature and in that time from that he wrote a book called Biophilia and talking about that connection that he felt with nature and then he and Callit got together and had it chat and came up with the biophilia hypothesis that as human beings we are innately connected to nature and it's evolutionary that we respond to nature and all
00:03:49
Speaker
the patterns form, shapes, materials, smells, sights, sounds of nature, you know, and the different spaces. So then Kellogg got a group of people together, or a really diverse group, and they discussed this, how can we bring it into our cities? And a biophilic design emerged from that. So I guess that's what I see. I think those 14 patterns,
00:04:17
Speaker
that Terrapin Bright Green Bill Browning came up with, fabulous, because it is about, like he puts them in three categories and they all sit nicely within there, but it is about not just greenery, but the materials and the shapes and the forms and the patterns and, like I said, smells and sights and sounds and bird calls
00:04:45
Speaker
every aspect and also, you know, the places like Prospect and Refuge, so where you sit gaze at a view from a place of safety, you know, and a lot of these are survival responses. So you're safe, but you can see what's coming, you know, and that's what sort of they're discovering more and more that about, you know, that they sort of can link them back to our survival responses when
00:05:14
Speaker
we lived out of cities and more immersed in nature.
Cities as Human Habitats
00:05:19
Speaker
So biophilic design to me is about integration and connection, you know, so integrating all of this aspects of nature as much as we can to create a connection between the place, our habitats and humans, you know, where we can connect to nature because
00:05:43
Speaker
I think one of the things that doesn't seem to be recognized that much is we're actually designing our habitats. Our cities are our habitats. And when you frame it as such, it can take on a different view. You know, it's like in zoos where we used to keep animals in concrete cages with bars and now zoos, you know, they didn't do well there. So zoos now go to great lengths to
00:06:12
Speaker
recreate the more natural habitat and animals do better. So if you extend that thinking into us as humans living in our cities, you know, like it would be nice to live in something a bit more connecting and natural to us.
Global Examples of Biophilic Design
00:06:31
Speaker
So you've introduced that idea of
00:06:35
Speaker
biophilia hypothesis and specifically biophilic design being applied at scale. I think it often gets picked up in the media. It's very easy to show photos of lots of plants in someone's house and call that biophilic design or frankly the same in an office building. I think what's fascinating about your work is how you're applying it at a not just architectural but almost city planning or urban urbanism level. So talk to us about how
00:07:03
Speaker
biophilic design can translate to not just buildings, but neighborhoods or cities in your view. Oh, look, there's some great examples of this globally too. So, you know, if you look at a building, just started a building, it's about sort of the shape of the building, what it's built from, you know, the design, the aspect, but how it sits in
00:07:33
Speaker
its place as well, like whether some, you know, creating skylines that might reflect the hills behind or something and, you know, all the airflow and the lighting and everything that goes with that. One thing I like is the use of colonnades. Like there's a hotel in Singapore, the Pickering Park Royal Hotel.
00:08:02
Speaker
And that has this beautiful, it's in the CBD, beautiful streetscape of colonnades going down. So that evokes walking through a forest. And it's the building fabric is like it's like strutted rock the way they've created it. You know, so you and you walk in through these colonnades with patterns, curved patterns in this building fabric over overhead.
00:08:31
Speaker
So you feel like you're walking into a cave almost, and it's the hotel and the footpath that they've done just for public use. You walk down through the colonnades, there's water and variable lighting. So it's a real biphilic experience as you walk down. And the whole hotel is made, it's got layered wood and different greenery.
00:09:01
Speaker
I think that's the thing with biophilic design is that there does tend to be this tendency to just think it's greenery and plants where it's just so much more. You can create a really biophilic place without any green nature, plants and so forth in that. As far as taking it beyond the building to scale,
00:09:31
Speaker
I really like, there's Melmer in Sweden that have created like rain gardens. So all trapped stormwater and funneled into channels that then, you know, canals people can walk past and there's a real connection and their premise for this whole development was about biodiversity and connection for people with nature, you know,
00:10:00
Speaker
utilizing things like rain gardens to manage the stormwater and biodiversity has increased there. The other aspect, there's some great developments in Singapore and one I really like is called Kampung Admiralty. So Kampung is the name, traditional name for a village in Singapore and it's a mixed use facility. So it's got transit right there
00:10:29
Speaker
You can walk in and it's right from the start. It's got rain gardens and greenery and filtration ponds. And then you walk and it's all big open air meeting place. They've got a pharmacy and supermarkets and medical center and a big hawkers market with food stalls. And it's about eight stories. And on each floor there's
00:10:56
Speaker
put in rain gardens and filtration ponds to manage the water. And then there's sort of a connecting to connecting walkways that go over to aged care units. So this is in the midst of sort of traditional old high rise social housing. And
00:11:18
Speaker
There's a community garden also there. So when you go across into these aged care units and look back at this eight story mixed use development, you just see a wall of green. It's just growing and it's just amazing. So that's their view from in this really high density is being able to just look at this greenery. I think it's fabulous. You know, so there's been some great aspects where
00:11:44
Speaker
You know, also in Singapore, they've done artificial canals with social housing and walkways, you know, so people can go along the canal and also greenery, you know, green roofs and so forth. So, you know, it's about on that precinct level, it's having those connectors, it's having that space, so it's sitting the building right, having the building
00:12:14
Speaker
you know, as an integration of part of the precinct, but also having the space for people to wander out and then there's greater community engagement and, you know, increased wellbeing and mental health and so forth with, you know, you get that whole neighbourhood is more liveable.
Biophilic Design: Sustainability and Well-being
00:12:36
Speaker
And, you know, it's, I mean, if we're going into the benefits of that, you then have, you know, it's,
00:12:42
Speaker
reduces, you know, help stormwater management and reduces urban heat and increases biodiversity. You know, so you get these multiple benefits that flow from creating a whole neighbourhood precinct or city. That's, I think what you're doing there is showing how biophilic design is something I've always felt that it somehow bridges the worlds of sustainability and wellbeing. So planet and people bringing benefits
00:13:14
Speaker
talking about the human aspects of the well-being and then look at the same time we're doing
00:13:19
Speaker
this in terms of reducing the environmental impact, in terms of reducing the urban heat island. So you see, in a sense, almost added benefits of working at scale beyond. Typically, we're built by a failure on an interior project. It tends to be more about the human aspect. We can reduce the sustainable or the environmental impact in terms of the materials and what have you. But it's always limited, right? Because there's only so much we can do. But you're suddenly able, it seems, to talk on a much wider scale and to be able to talk about
00:13:52
Speaker
reduced environmental impact and increased sustainability, right? That sort of opens up a whole other discussion. Yeah, well, I think it's a really important part, and this is something when I present or meet with people, I really try and push home is the multiple benefits because often there will be, you know, something implemented like a green roof, right?
00:14:19
Speaker
the initial driver will be stormwater management. This has happened in Washington and a lot of North America use green roofs to reduce their stormwater. And once the green roof is in place, then all the other benefits are suddenly discovered, like the Chicago City Hall, the iconic green roof that was put in
00:14:49
Speaker
the mayor made, you know, built that, had it installed because of an excessive heat wave in Chicago, a lot of people died. So he wanted to call the city. So he built that on the city hall that was next to the country hall, like they share the same rooftop Chicago County. And so they were able to study the benefits as far as, you know,
00:15:19
Speaker
the cooling and reducing energy consumption. But by doing that, they also discovered what it meant for them to have access to this roof. And when I saw it, it was like a sort of patch of dry weeds, you know, because it was heading into winter. But it was beautiful because, you know, I think we can also see the seasons and that's really important. So
00:15:48
Speaker
You know, now they've got a beehive there and because bees tend to get attracted. This has happened. I hear these stories. People do a green roof and then, oh, there's lots of bees. Let's do a beehive. And so, you know, there's another woman in Washington. She was amazing. She just worked and worked and worked to get a green roof on her building. And she got kids, disadvantaged kids to come and help and all of that. She goes out there every evening and it's her place of
00:16:17
Speaker
peace and she does all these tours for people. And so, you know, where you can start with the installation for one reason, all the others soon are discovered. And there also tends to be a ripple effect, you know, like that's happened in Washington. Oh, look at their green roofs. I want one now. And as people discover these multiple benefits. But that's the really important thing for people to understand that
00:16:48
Speaker
By installing or utilising biophilic design, you're addressing a lot of social benefits. You really help with mental health and wellbeing. And that's a big thing at the moment. Like I know in COVID, so many people found the place they went to, they sought out green places because it reduced stress, but also maybe helped them feel a bit connected in a time of isolation.
00:17:17
Speaker
We have all the human aspects, increased community engagement and walkability. And, you know, you can do density better like by doing it well and clever utilizing biophilic design like like Melmer. So, you know, you have these multiple social and then you have the multiple environmental benefits like store-bought and management and increase the biodiversity.
00:17:46
Speaker
and reducing urban heat and helping with carbon reduction and all these other food security is also a big one because we're able to grow food on green roofs or around. I think it's really important to look at the multiple benefits because then the business case gets made.
00:18:15
Speaker
you know, really strong because that's a lot of the pushback.
Implementing Biophilic Design: Policies and Approaches
00:18:18
Speaker
Oh, it's going to cost more to do things. This is often with, you know, green roofs and so forth. It's going to cost more and the maintenance. But once the multiple benefits are understood, you know, then it does make a stronger business case. And and it helps, you know, with general health. So and reducing urban heat. So you get less people hospitalised with heat stress and
00:18:43
Speaker
so forth. And it reduces crime. There's done studies to show that when there's nature or a biophilic designed place, crime goes down, people feel more altruistic as well. And the successes that you're seeing around the world
00:19:03
Speaker
Are they typically led by private businesses or is it more of a top-down approach where city planning needs to be engaged as well? Is it a combination of the two? It is a combination of the two, like it's been both happened. Sometimes I've seen it community driven, but this is where they need to work with
00:19:31
Speaker
government I guess to have enabling policies like I know places where community gardens have been started by people you know and or they've wanted to you know design a house with a green roof or have it a bit more biophilic or whatever and there can be you know bureaucracy and unsupporting policies that they could bump up against it can be hard work so
00:20:01
Speaker
The idea is where government can help community by having enabling policies for them. It's also like in some places like Chicago to do the green roofs. They did theirs to show that it could be done for developers and then they put it into policy. And developers,
00:20:28
Speaker
They were so angry. Like I talked to the guy I had to front up to, you know, the government city planner had to talk to developers. And sometimes he said they were spitting mad, but now they don't have to regulate it. Now everyone expects their green roof and they've realized the multiple benefits that have come for them as developers. So there are places where yes, you do need that strong
00:20:56
Speaker
leader, you know, the local champion to go, this is what we have to do. And they'll suffer the pushback. But in other places, it's community wanting to do something different or have a better neighborhood or, you know, be able to create something where they can connect. And community are great at self-organising places. And, you know, we've got to give credence to the wisdom of the masses, you know, so
00:21:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, it varies from place to place really, you know, so, but ideally it's all working when you get it coming together. You've got great synergies.
Opportunities in Education and Correctional Facilities
00:21:41
Speaker
And looking at where it's then applied, the different sectors in which you can see the most benefits. There are some great examples of hospitals around the world and
00:21:51
Speaker
particularly interested in elderly care homes, for example, and how they can integrate biophilia for people with dementia and what have you. There's some really interesting work around that. But what about at the other end of the age spectrum around schools? It's perhaps not so common, but I do see some examples. Occasionally they pop up on my radar of schools trying to do things in a more
00:22:11
Speaker
say, biophilic or sustainable ways. How do you see that particular sector? Has it got big opportunity there? Is there much more work to do or what could the challenges be of taking that into the world of education? Yes, I think there are challenges and I think there's great opportunities and I think it's a really vital area to be implementing biophilic design in because, you know, I see and hear a lot of stories with our young people
00:22:40
Speaker
in schools and the mental health challenges, you know, and mental health is decreasing in schools. And, you know, to help like to go have a place where it is not stressful. It's the other thing that they've done studies about to understand this is sort of a little bit where the prison work I've done comes from is that hard age architecture stresses us
00:23:10
Speaker
you know, where it's just very industrial, you know, it actually stresses us as people. So you're wanting these children to often go into classrooms, like there's some classrooms in the world that don't even have windows they can see out of. And I know a lot of the American ones are like that. So you can imagine the stress, especially if they have a school shooter, you know, they're hearing noise, they can't see it's, you know,
00:23:40
Speaker
It can be pretty hard, but what they've found is even having a few pot plants increases learning rates, you know, because it helps improve cognitive processing. So, and I think when you've got something, you know, again, triggering that sense of connection and well-being when students can walk into a classroom and feel that they do, they learn better, they're less stressed because even
00:24:10
Speaker
It's an innate sort of stress that can happen. And also I've been working with school groups and there's one that a new school built in my city and it was just very industrial minimal sort of but touted as the great new school and an extension is being done. And the kids there want to have a lot of greenery. They want to incorporate more
00:24:40
Speaker
Patents be able to better windows and just softer. You talk to them all about biophilic design and that's what they're wanting. And they've actually got funding this group. It's called Millennium Kids. And they're working on incorporating biophilic design for schools. And I'm also sort of a friend, colleague. He's interested in getting biophilic soundscapes into schools.
00:25:07
Speaker
And so globally, there has been a lot done, you know, in getting some of this happening in schools with great results, like they're just finding learning rates to improve, that behaviour improves, like they're less disruptive and happier to come to school. I don't know if you remember Sandy Hawker was side of the mass shooting in 2012.
00:25:36
Speaker
And they demolished the school and rebuilt. And the school that they built was all based on biophilic design. And it's just it's stunning. And they did it because they wanted a sense of safety and security, but connection and beauty in there. And it's even like on the on the walls, the you know, the fabric created sort of trees, patterns and like a leaf pattern on the floor and they have little
00:26:06
Speaker
treehouse breakout rooms, sort of nooks and lighting and rain gardens out in the front. It's quite a stunning school that they're happy to work with now. It's where you start to see how biophilic design really sits within perhaps a slightly wider concept around wellbeing design and creating spaces for physical and mental wellbeing. You mentioned prisons.
00:26:33
Speaker
well-being design, biophilic design and prisons may not necessarily be two things we'd associate together, but that's why I wanted to ask you about it. So tell us, how does that work? Yeah, well, typically prisons, you know, and this is the pushback you get from prison people is that they're in there to be punished, right? So they go and their cells, you know, and prisons, they're pretty harsh places and
00:27:03
Speaker
just all, you know, brick and concrete and hard edge. So there's some great work done by a woman. She started to work with gardens, but then she ended up doing some research and it's called the Blue Room and it works with Supermax prisoners in a prison in Oregon. And they just show videos of nature. So when
00:27:32
Speaker
prisoner is getting agitated or they have to transfer or something they'll go and they'll watch videos and they have the ones they prefer the prisoners have and they become more compliant stress rates go before also the guards the staff their stress rates reduce and all of that and they've found it's just been quite amazing the difference in behavior. Now Scandinavia
00:27:58
Speaker
They have learned to do prisons. They have a lot of biophilic design within their prisons and make sure there's lighting and use color and shapes and forms and, you know, curved areas and artwork and all of that. And they have low recidivism rates, you know, less reoffending people. And because what ultimately, if you're wanting to
00:28:26
Speaker
rehabilitate and help someone, then don't put them in a stressful, you know, cave box of, you know, concrete and brick, which is, I've talked to prisoners and they're very stressed when they can't get a view or anything. So they're trying to, you know, to change, teach new behaviours or help with learning while they're stressed, same with schools, you know, you need to feel
00:28:55
Speaker
relaxed and once your stress reduces your cognitive functioning improves. As I understand it the issue around staff workers in prisons is really urgent in the US at the moment and the idea that creating a space not just for the prisoners
00:29:23
Speaker
long shifts, incredibly stressful situations. So there's almost the two sides to the argument. Also thinking about the staff, we have to spend days in there dealing with what can only be a difficult social context.
Dr. Soderlund's Book and the Future of Biophilic Design
00:29:38
Speaker
So I think it's clear that there are many ways we can
00:29:43
Speaker
can think about by effective design within the context of a city. I just wanted to close with one question about your book. I downloaded the teaser the other day, so I've read the first. But tell us a little bit about that and how you came to it. And it's obviously out there in the world. How's that been going with the book? Are you working on anything new in terms of publications? I have a few papers published, and one's just about to be published. What about how to implement
00:30:13
Speaker
biophilic design based on my research. So the book came about through my research for my PhD. And I looked into the history. That's where I looked into the history of biophilic design. But to do this, I went I traveled North America and I interviewed a lot of the leaders in the field like Stephen Callit and where biophilic design had been implemented to find out
00:30:42
Speaker
why, you know, what was the driver, the initial driver for it? And that was really interesting, you know, talking to people, I think I did 30 odd interviews, but they're written up as sort of stories, conversational stories. And I learned a lot and had some fabulous conversations, but
00:31:07
Speaker
You know, out of that, you could see the evolution of it and how, you know, I got those initial drivers of whether it was stormwater management or urban heat, but the ripple effect and then discovering the multiple benefits. And from that, I made a framework to how to mainstream it. So, you know, it's all in the book, but I've written it.
00:31:35
Speaker
As a, you know, so you learn a lot about biophilic design, but also as an easy read, you know, to hear the stories and the discussions and people's ideas about, you know, and a bit about aesthetics, because I guess that's one of the big things about biophilic design, too, that I haven't mentioned is the beauty.
00:31:59
Speaker
that's very important to us. And we respond to beauty, you know, and aesthetics. So I've seen lots of high rated lead buildings or six star here, you know, all energy efficient, but they leave out the biophilic design, they leave out that human connection. And they're not really sustainable because people don't, you know, find
00:32:26
Speaker
They might meet all the energy targets, but they don't make the human targets. And when people are in a beautiful place or connecting to a building, then they're less likely to want to go to work there. So that's an important point to close on. I think let's draw a line under it. Thank you so much for your time. It was great. I really enjoyed it. OK, thank you, Matt.