The University of
Greenwich Green Roofs and Living Walls Centre and the Department of
Architecture and Landscape have revealed details of the ABC: Activating
Biophilic Cities London Conference on 4-5 September 2018.
The aim of this
conference is to bring together academics, built environment professionals
(architects, planners, landscape architects, environmental specialists etc.),
educational and health professionals in order to share the latest research and
best practice in biophilic design and to kick-start the pace of change towards
holistically providing healthy places and spaces that improve the quality of
life for people in our cities.
The event will
consist of keynote addresses by eminent experts and peer reviewed papers on the
principles and practice of biophilic design. Workshops will be used to develop
a Biophilic City Framework which will facilitate the widespread adoption of the
principles of biophilic design.
The workshops will cover the following themes:
- Planning the biophilic city
- Designing restorative
landscapes
- Well buildings
- The biophilic workplace
- Designing healing spaces
- Biophilic learning spaces
Eighty-one per cent
of the UK's population currently live in urban areas, estranged from nature, an
essential element for good health. Biophilic design aims to reconnect humankind
with nature, sustaining a physical relationship in order to improve overall
environmental conditions (e.g. purifying water, detoxifying air pollution,
increasing biodiversity etc.) as well as improving well-being, mental and
physical health and improving productivity in offices, schools, hospitals and
in the home.
Natural elements
such as street trees and planting have been a feature of cities for hundreds of
years. Today the ecosystem services that city vegetation delivers, through
avenues, parks and gardens, urban forests, green roofs and living walls, are
well known and largely celebrated.
The necessity for
clean air, natural light, sunlight, natural materials and plants are also a
prerequisite for health and wellbeing outside our buildings as well as inside.
By increasing nature and natural elements indoors, sick building syndrome will
become a thing of the past.
