Table Of ContentTHE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO
ECOLOGICAL DESIGN THINKING
This companion investigates the ways in which designers, architects, and planners address ecology
through the built environment by integrating ecological ideas and ecological thinking into discussions
of urbanism, society, culture, and design.
Exploring the innovation of materials, habitats, landscapes, and infrastructures, it furthers novel
ecotopian ideas and ways of living, including human-made settings on water, in outer space, and in
extreme environments and climatic conditions. Chapters of this extensive collection on ecotopian
design are grouped under five different ecological perspectives: design manifestos and ecological
theories, anthropocentric transformative design concepts, design connectivity, climatic design, and
social design. Contributors provide plausible, sustainable design ideas that promote resiliency, health,
and well-being for all living things, while taking our changing lifestyles into consideration. This
volume encourages creative thinking in the face of ongoing environmental damage, with a view to
making design decisions in the interest of the planet and its inhabitants.
With contributions from over 79 expert practitioners, educators, scientists, researchers, and
theoreticians, as well as planners, architects, and engineers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia,
this book engages theory, history, technology, engineering, and science, as well as the human aspects
of ecotopian design thinking and its implications for the outlook of the planet.
Mitra Kanaani is a Distinguished Professor of ACSA (DPACSA), and recipient of numerous
education awards. She is a Fellow of American Institute of Architects (FAIA). Mitra has a D. Arch
degree with a focus in Design Performativity, and an M. Arch degree in Architecture with a minor
in structural engineering. She also holds a Master of City Planning, and a BS in Economics and
BA in Musicology. She is a researcher, author, editor, architect, and activist for Education Is Not a
Crime, and an appointed member of the State Architect Board of California.
THE ROUTLEDGE
COMPANION TO
ECOLOGICAL DESIGN
THINKING
Healthful Ecotopian Visions for Architecture
and Urbanism
Edited by Mitra Kanaani
Cover image: Melanie P. Hahn
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Mitra Kanaani; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Mitra Kanaani to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-02389-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-02390-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18318-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003183181
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my mother Mary Farahmehr, who was a visionary role model and
a symbol of resilience, tenacity, wisdom, and dedication.
And to my three little angels Vidahlia, Roya, Thea, and all the children
of the world with high aspirations for a promising, peaceful, healthful,
and thriving life on our Planet Earth . . . and beyond!
Mitra
CONTENTS
Preface by Mitra Kanaani xiii
Introduction by Gisela Loehlein xx
Foreword by Keith Pezzoli xxii
Prologue by Saskia Sassen xxviii
Ecological Perspective Domain One: Design Manifestos and Theories
in Ecological Domains—Symbiotic Trajectories Between Ecological
Organisms and Creative Design Thinking: Critical Design Idealisms
on Ecotopian Design Trajectories in Bio-Socio-Techno Integrative
Processes
1.1 Designs for a Rapidly Transforming Human Culture 3
Thomas Fisher
1.2 Design with Nature Reconsidered: Then, Now, and Later 13
George Dodds and Christina Geros
1.3 Ecological Prototypes for Green Construction: Linking Architecture
and Ecological Engineering for Integrated Urban, Agricultural, and
Ecological Land Use 26
Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel
vii
Contents
1.4 From Evo-Devo Strategies to a Way Forward With Eco-social
Evo-Devo for Generative Design Processes: Toward Extending the
Polymorphism of Metabolic Architecture and the Integration of Diversities 38
Sean Ahlquist
1.5 Digitalism in Morphogenetic Practices for Human Centric Design
Thinking—Towards an Eco Animated Performative Gestalt Through
Parametricism 51
Robert Neumayr
1.6 Systems of Systems: Architectural Atmosphere, Neuromorphic
Architecture, and the Well-Being of Humans and Ecospheres 64
Michael Arbib, Meredith Banasiak and Luis Othón Villegas-Solís
1.7 Architecture Design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: The Latent
Ontology of Architectural Features 75
Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger
1.8 Spatial Entities of the Future: Design Through the Lens of Neuroscience 92
Kate Jeffery and Fiona Zisch
Ecological Perspective Domain Two: Anthropocentric
Transformative Design Concepts—Anthropocentric Non-Utilitarian
Economics of Wellbeing and Resilience: Habitat, Community,
Human Settlements, Movement, Transportation, and Diaspora, as
Socio-Organisms for Livability
2.1 Ecological Urbanism for Health, Well-Being, and Inclusivity:
Engaging—Culture, Consciousness, and Nature 107
Frederick Steiner
2.2 Dimensions of Urban Infill for Cities in the Global South: The Case of
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 120
Denise de Alcantara and Vicente del Rio
2.3 Design of the Future Neighborhood—Neighborhoods Back to the
Future—In Resolving the Housing Crisis and Affordability 135
Frank Wolden, Michael Stepner and Mary Lydon
2.4 Urban Heat Mitigation: Current and Future Trends 150
Poorang Piroozfar and Eric Farr
2.5 Sustainability Within a Market-Based Ecological Order 161
Patrik Schumacher
viii
Contents
2.6 Future of Urban Design Through Generative Design Tools: New Data
Sources and Analysis Practices in Urban Mobility and Environmental Studies 171
Gustavo Romanillos and Maider Llaguno-Munitxa
2.7 Green Urban Futures: Regreening Cities to Enhance Health,
Resilience, and the Urban Microclimate 184
Steffen Lehmann
2.8 Urban Design in Search for Equilibrium: The Evolving Urban
Metabolism of Sustainable Cities—Towards an Ethical and Sustainable
Approach to City Building 198
Howard M. Blackson III
Ecological Perspective Domain Three: The Design Connectivity
Domain—Design Hybridity and Performativity in Non-Utilitarian/
Utilitarianist Approaches and Views Toward Eco-Centric
Environmental Behavior Transactions: Materiality, Biodiversity,
Biomimetics, Energy Resiliency, and the Role of Technology
3.1 Design Resiliency, Curbing Climate Change, and Temporal Trajectories
for the Anthropocene 213
Meredith Sattler
3.2 Biomorphic Intelligence: Deploying Biotechnology in Architecture for
Human Health and Wellbeing 224
Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto
3.3 Material Ecology 1—Four Ecologies of Engineered Living Materials
Research 239
Martyn Dade-Robertson and Meng Zhang
3.4 Materials Ecology 2—Optimization of Daylighting Performance and
Solar Heat Gain Through Adaptive Kinetic Envelopes 251
Moon Young Jeong, Maria Matheou and L. Blandini
3.5 Environment-Aware Behavioral Envelopes: Design Ecologies, Adaptive
Geometries, and Technologies for Climate Interaction 263
Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thün
3.6 Material Ecology 3—Smart Materials
Essay One: Smart Materials for Thermo-Responsive Architectural
Applications 276
Yomna Elghazi, Neveen Hamza and Martyn Dade-Robertson
ix
