Biophilia literally means ‘love for our living systems’. It is a term popularised by Edward O. Wilson in his book Biophilia (1984), which he describes as an innate affinity that human beings have with nature. He stresses that humans coevolved with nature, so they need it in their daily lives. Tim Beatley has applied the idea to cities and tried to find what he calls a: ‘daily dose of nature’ (Beatley 2011). The biophilic city, therefore, brings landscaping both into and onto buildings, walls, roads and concrete watercourses to bring nature into every element of the built environment (Kellert, Heerwagen, and Mador 2011; Beatley 2011). The benefits are considered to include the cooling of the city (especially as the urban heat island effect grows with climate change); reduced stormwater surges, as rain slows down in the same way that it does in a forest; reduced energy needs in buildings, due to the mantle of insulation from plant life; improved biodiversity; and improved health.
This paper seeks to answer some questions about biophilic urbanism through examining Singapore and its recent activity in this area. The questions raised are as follows:
(1) Does the density of an Asian city preclude it from bringing nature more intensely into the city or does it help it?
(2) Can a dense city like Singapore make a contribution to local biodiversity?
(3) What kind of urban ecosystems can be imagined developing if biophilic urbanism is taken seriously?
The need for a radically new approach to bringing nature into cities has never been more obvious than in the endless modernist, cookie-cutter high-rise towers of the emerging megalopolises of the world, especially in Asia, where they are usually surrounded by little more than grass and concrete and where biodiversity loss continues apace (UNEP 2012). Singapore has bucked the Asian cookie-cutter high-rise tower syndrome through its planning over many years, particularly its recent commitment to biophilic urbanism. It now appears to be a leader in this new approach to city building. This paper illustrates biophilic urbanism by highlighting what appears to be happening in Singapore and stresses the planning implications for any city as regards the three questions listed above.
Bron: Newman, P. 2014. Biophilic urbanism: a case study on Singapore, Australian Planner, 51(1), p. 47-65. DOI: 10.1080/07293682.2013.790832