Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BIO-POLIS (BIOphilic MetroPOLIS, a holistic model for urban planning and building climate resilience)
Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2024-07-31
Rapid urbanization in recent decades poses threats to social stability, economic prosperity, and environmental and human health, prioritized in European and Global Agendas. Despite cities occupying just 3% of Earth’s landmass, they significantly contribute to and suffer from the climate crisis. In response, cities are implementing programs centered on healthier design, sustainable planning, and greenification. While reducing environmental impact, these actions often overlook social implications, including the health benefits of nature. Modern lifestyle and widespread technology addiction led us to spend up to 90% of our time indoors, negatively impacting the urban quality of life. Conversely, growing evidence indicates that regular exposure to nature improves our health and social relationships. This explains the growing interest in biophilia, grounded in humans’ innate affiliation with living beings and systems. Albeit several disciplines having proven multiple benefits of biophilia for both people and the environment, there are limitations to broader and intersectoral progress: issues such as scientific objectivity, measurability, upscaling, and the implementation of Biophilic Urbanism require further investigation. To address these gaps, BIO-POLIS promotes the biophilic city as a holistic urban model to enhance livability by restoring human-nature interaction and to foster climate resilience by maximizing the use of nature in city planning. In compliance with SDGs (3,11,13,15,17), and addressing the 5th and 6th societal challenges of Horizon 2020, BIO-POLIS acknowledges the pivotal role of natural capital in making cities more inclusive, safe, and resilient.
The collaboration between TU Delft, MIT, and AMS Institute facilitated the execution of work packages (WPs) successfully. WP1 involved project management and dissemination, enhancing global outreach and awareness of biophilic issues through various channels including publications, social media, and the project website. WP2 was dedicated to implement the Career Development Plan, enriching the researcher’s background with complementary technical and soft skills. In WP3, a comprehensive 60-year literature review on Biophilic Urbanism was conducted, involving extensive data collection from multiple sources and fieldwork to establish baseline datasets for Machine Learning training. WP4 aimed to identify and map urban nature, developing the 'Feeling Nature' insight aimed at using visual AI to measure and compare biophilic settings and perception across global biomes. WP5 focused on qualitative analysis to formulate a new framework for Biophilic Urbanism built on multi-dimensional benefits for humans, society, and the environment. WP6 involved environmental analyses to assess biophilia’s impact on urban climate resilience, using numerical simulations and modeling to evaluate diverse biophilic scenarios. Finally, WP7 developed design tools and strategies, resulting in a biophilic atlas based on best practices worldwide. This aims to promote Biophilic Urbanism, enhancing human-nature interactions and environmental behaviors, making cities more livable and climate-resilient.
BIO-POLIS advances the current state of the art in biophilia research, enriching theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and practical applications. It broadens our understanding of biophilia’s multifaceted impacts on humans, society, the environment, and economics. Through a comprehensive literature review, the project establishes a robust scientific foundation, supported by multidisciplinary evidence. New concepts and definitions are articulated to clarify the benefits of biophilia and facilitate its integration into urban planning at various scales. Moreover, BIO-POLIS introduces innovative metrics and digital measurement tools using AI models to assess biophilia across global biomes. This innovation highlights the universal value of biophilia, challenging traditional dichotomies between city and nature, natural and artificial, and human and digital interactions. The project’s differentiated approaches — focusing on quantity, quality, and spatial factors —enhance biophilic thinking both locally and globally. The interdisciplinary and multisectoral impacts of BIO-POLIS are poised to renew t urban planning by emphasizing nature as a sustainable, ecological, and economical resource, thereby making cities more livable and climate-resilient. BIO-POLIS offers guidelines, strategies, and an atlas of biophilic solutions that are transferable and applicable to any city worldwide. These tools are specifically designed to enable the rapid and effective implementation of Biophilic Urbanism, optimizing the integration of nature and its numerous benefits for humans and urban environments. BIO-POLIS not only advances research and innovation among project partners but also fosters international cooperation. By facilitating the acquisition of new skills and the expansion of professional networks, BIO-POLIS notably enhances the future career prospects of researchers involved in the project.