The basic principles of biophilic design may be old, but our understanding of the scientific links between mental wellbeing and nature in cities is relatively new. We take a look at some of the growing evidence.

Origins

The word ‘biophilia’ was first used by German psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in 1973. Ten years later, American biologist A O Wilson introduced the ‘biophilia hypothesis’ – the idea that humans have a genetically inherited need to connect to nature, stemming from our evolutionary dependence on the natural world.

Biophilic design principles can be applied inside, outside and between buildings to connect people to direct experiences of the natural world – such as contact with plants, water and natural light – as well as to indirect experiences such as nature-inspired colours, textures and forms. One example is the plan to transform the Champs-Élysées in the heart of Paris into a 1.2-mile-long urban garden by 2030. Another is the increasing interest in biomimicry as an inspiration for architectural structure, alongside a more general shift towards materials that echo the colours and textures of nature.

Paris’ Champs-Élysées is set to be transformed into a 1.2-mile-long urban garden by 2030. Image: Pexels / Mikhail Nilov

Reference: https://www.pexels.com/photo/arc-de-triomphe-monument-at-the-center-of-the-roundabout-8431136/

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater exemplifies many biophilic features. Image: Wikipedia / Daderot

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilic_design#/media/
File:Fallingwater_-_DSC05643.JPG

Singapore is one the greenest cities in the world, with biophilic projects like Gardens by the Bay creating a ‘city in a garden’.

Image: Pexels / Inigo Joseph

Reference: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-shot-of-buildings-near-ocean-1682794/

Emerging evidence base

Few would disagree that introducing nature and biodiversity into cities, homes and workspaces is good for the environment and people. However, since 2015 and the launch of the global Sustainable Development Goals, researchers have been working hard to more precisely pinpoint and measure the effects of biophilic design on wellbeing and mental health. At the same time, metrics such as the WELL Building Standards increasingly seek to quantify and qualify the impacts of biophilic design.

New evidence of the potential psychological benefits of a biophilic approach includes a 2021 study from the Empa Research Institute in Switzerland. In contrast to some previous studies – which argued that wellbeing benefits of nature in cities were largely attributable to the effects of physical exercise – the Empa study found that even a view of nature from within a building can significantly reduce perceptions of urban traffic noise. It is the interrelationships between the senses that might be key to wellbeing through design.

There seems little doubt that biophilic design will increasingly shape our buildings and cities. A 2020 study by Princeton University researcher Anu Ramaswami, for example, positions public urban green space as one of seven fundamental pillars of sustainable cities – equivalent in importance to shelter, water, food, energy, connectivity and sanitation. With more than 50% of the world’s population now living in urban areas, her paper makes the case for a ‘nexus science’ – or interdisciplinary – approach to planning and designing the sustainable and resilient cities of the future.

Applying biophilic design principles

A useful summary of biophilic design principles for designers can be found in The Practice of Biophilic Design – A Simplified Framework (2015). The concise introduction from Yale Professor Stephen Kellert and architect Elizabeth Calabrese sets out applications of biophilic design in three key areas: direct experiences of nature; indirect experiences of nature; and experiences of space and place.

Whether evidence-based or instinctive, biophilic design decisions are likely to increasingly shape the built environments of the future.