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Two Social-Ecological Design Approaches to Regenerative Sustainability

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Regenerating Cities

Part of the book series: Cities and Nature ((CITIES))

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Abstract

This chapter sets out the major features of two social-ecological design approaches to the built environment, Biophilic urbanism and Regenerative development. Through the analysis of the theory of each of these perspectives, it explores how they can contribute to the design of cities that enable solutions to repair damage and help regenerate both natural environments, ecosystem services and social systems. Biophilic urbanism appears to be an appropriate means for the reconnection of humans to nature. Biophilic interventions facilitate access to nature through the creation of abundant green environments in cities and between and onto buildings providing health and wellbeing to users and residents. This reconnection occurs particularly when the design interventions are based on the ordered complexity of natural structures and adapted to human sensibilities. Regenerative development fosters a substantial advance in the understanding of sustainability because they seek to promote conditions that are conducive to life, helping living systems to recover their capacities of re-organising and regenerating themselves leading to the regeneration of built environments and communities. The convergence of biophilic and regenerative approaches’ standpoints detected in many principles opened the opportunity to develop an integrated approach to urbanism, named Regenerative Sustainable Urbanism that combines the key characteristics of both approaches to enhance potential and performance in urban transformations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chap.13: Biophilia and Sensory Aesthetics (in Kellert et al. 2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Maria Elena Zingoni de Baro

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  1. Maria Elena Zingoni de Baro
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Correspondence to Maria Elena Zingoni de Baro .

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Zingoni de Baro, M.E. (2022). Two Social-Ecological Design Approaches to Regenerative Sustainability. In: Regenerating Cities. Cities and Nature. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90559-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90559-0_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-90559-0

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