The greening of the city : development and application of a biophilic urbanism framework to neighborhood development in Austin, Texas

Over the past decade, biophilic design has become increasingly popular in the field of architecture and other areas of small-scale development. It recognizes humanity’s innate affinity for nature and illustrates that integrating nature into the built environment boosts human health, productivity, and safety, and ultimately creates positive spaces and experiences. The success of biophilic design at a site level has prompted exploration into broader application, such as neighborhoods, cities, and regions, but has ultimately remained confined to small pockets of these areas. How can we transform the existing architectural frameworks of biophilic design into a model for neighborhood and city planning in a way that fosters connections between people and landscape while addressing planning challenges brought about by climate change? This report will assess the current principles of biophilic design across three scales—site specific architecture, neighborhood and city scale, and regional planning—and discuss several case studies. This research will be used as a baseline to develop a comprehensive biophilic urbanism framework for city planning and design which is then applied to a site located in East Austin.