Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2018 - 3

ON THE ROOF WITH...

INTERVIEW BY STEVEN W. PECK, GRP, HONORARY ASLA

1. What does the biophilia hypothesis mean to you?
Judith Herwaagen (JH): Like all hypotheses, it means that the
proposed benefits of biophilia can be rigorously tested using valid
scientific methods. In the years since The Biophilia Hypothesis (S.R.
Kellert and E.O. Wilson, Eds) was published in 1993, hundreds of
studies have validated the health, well being, and performance benefits
associated with being in biophilic rich environments. The benefits have
been found in a diverse array of settings and for a wide range of design
approaches including window views, gardens, flowers, trees, daylight,
outdoor greenspace, water features, and green roofs.
James D. Brown (JB): The biophilic hypothesis identifies that
we, as humans, require daily interactions with nature to allow us
to have healthy, happy and productive lives. For Biophilic Cities, this means embracing this challenge not just at an individual
or site level but at the scale of planning and designing cities.
Increasing global urbanization provides a tremendous opportunity to cultivate nature in close proximity to a rapidly growing
portion of the world's population.

EXPERTS
ON BIOPHILIC
DESIGN

udith Heerwagen (JH) is an environmental psychologist;
Timothy Beatley (TB) is chair of the Department of Urban
and Environmental Planning, University of Virginia; and
James D. Brown (JB) is the Director of Research, The Biophilic Cities Project.

Biophilic Design continues to emerge as an important body of practice
which is increasingly shaping the way in which we design buildings and
communities. Three experts share their views on a wide range of topics
which hold the promise of delivering much healthier and more sustainable
buildings and communities.
Tim Beatley (TB): Biophilia is
an essential insight into what it
means to be human, especially
in the age of cities. Contact with
nature is not something optional,
but absolutely essential to
meaningful urban lives. In an era
where the environmental news is
discouraging, biophilia is a highly
hopeful and optimistic idea--we
can design and plan in ways that
connect us with nature on a daily
or hourly basis, something that
we know produces profound
benefits and likely even helps us
to be better human beings (the
evidence suggests, for instance,
that we are more likely to be
generous and cooperative in the
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

deployed more equitably across urban settings? And how can biophilic
design strategies - such as biophilic urban acupuncture - be used to
enhance both human and environmental health? These questions go
to the heart of human existence on the planet we call home.
JB: The increasing emphasis on moving from a focus on the single
building site to that site's connection to larger surrounding community and landscape. Natural systems depend on connectivity and continuity across the landscape. As users of these same places, humans
2. What is the most important
and non-humans alike need to be able to move across cities without
development in the emerging
field of biophilic design and why? experiencing a pronounced disconnect with the natural world.
TB: Biophilic design has made great progress in recent years at the
JH: I think the most important
building scale. I believe we need to continue to expand and extend
development is the emerging
this work to embrace a "whole of city" approach; one that underdiscussion around bigger themes
stands that nature can and must be included at every spatial scale,
and issues that biophilia should
and in every space, in cities--this is the vision of biophilic cities that
address in the future. For
instance, how can biophilic design we have been trying to promote, largely through the global Biophilic
Cities Network. It is an immersive view of biophilic design: nature
support human health and resilience within the larger context of is not just to be found in designated places, such as a park or a community garden or urban forest, but rather is all around us in cities. It
climate change? How can it be
presence of nature). Biophilia
suggests the potential to deepen
and enrich our lives through
the natural world, and to add
important layers of meaning to
the cities in which we live.

LIVING
LIVING ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE MONITOR
MONITOR // SUMMER 2018 / 3

http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2018