On May 27 Mathias will speak about his research and findings within his vision of the ‘Next City’ as a biodiverse and nature-inclusive city of the future. The lecture is part of the session on design consequences of integral nature-inclusvie building as part of the ‘Green as Building Material -ecological and nature inclusive design of the climate resilient city’ Two-day international virtual life conference on May 26-27 2021.
The aim of the conference is to investigate and discuss the value of implementation of Nature in the built environment. Nature offers a range of specific ecosystem services. Two examples of such services are provided by vegetation in form of mitigation of heat stress in cities through provision of shadow and evaporation of water, and retention of water during intense rain showers reducing risk of flooding. Ecosystem services can play an important role in designing current and future climate-proof cities.
In addition to aforementioned city cooling and water retention, many more useful ecosystem services can be provided by Nature. Further examples are cleaning of air, water and soil, and strengthening of biodiversity in the urban environment. Nature-inclusive cities are therefore healthier, more attractive, and thus overall more liveable.
The application of ecosystem services is particularly suitable for an integrated approach, i.e. solving multidisciplinary problems. In relation to latter this symposium also seeks answers to questions relevant in the field of ownership and regulations. Who is or feels owner(ship) of which specific problem and is willing to finance (a part of) integral green solutions? What is the status of current regulation with respect to (affording) city greening or is it necessary to further develop and implement nature-inclusive building legislation? Methods and strategies for implementing ecosystem services in the urban structure at different levels of spatial scale (roof, façade, street, living quarter) will also receive attention.
The two-day symposium is organized by the Sustainability group of the Material & Environment section, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology, and aims to bring together representatives of governments, the creative sector, science, urban design agencies, and the supply industry.