What’s next for sustainability and regenerative design in the built environment?

I write this blog from Phoenix, Arizona, where I am seeking respite indoors from the 44-degree heat and finding peace with the fact that the mercury will remain in the mid 40’s to 50’s with little relief until October (I am delighted to see that it will drop to a lovely 30 degrees overnight!).

It is a fascinating environment in which to study infrastructure resilience, given the infamous closure of the airport last year as a result of extreme heat conditions. It is also a similarly intriguing environment for studying Biomimicry, the primary reason I am spending 7 months at Arizona State University. I am here to learn from global leaders at the Biomimicry Center at ASU, a partnership between the University and Biomimicry 3.8, a biomimicry consultancy established by Dayna Baumeister and Janine Benyus.

For the un-initiated, Biomimicry is an emerging field seeking to learn from 3.8 billion years of biological research and development, as a source of innovation in design and engineering. It is putting aside the assumption that we already have all of the answers, and exploring how biological organisms and systems have designed solutions to many of the same challenges we face today. This could mean looking at how animals manage heat transfer, how termites maintain temperature consistency in their mounds amongst extreme external variations, or how bioluminescence and self-repair occur. By delving into the science and design of these natural strategies, we open up a wealth of potential design approaches that we may be able to learn from in our built environment assets and networks. What if our infrastructure could monitor stresses and self-repair, in the way that our bodies do? What if our projects could deliver ecosystem services, the way a forest system does?

My research is focussed on the ways in which we can introduce biomimicry into our design, construction and operations approaches for buildings and infrastructure. While here, I have been interested to see the many similarities and variances between the built environment sectors in Australia and the US. I have seen many inspiring and innovative projects across the United States, some of which were presented at the Living Future UnConference in Portland in May, and many others which may be less prominent or well-known.

Rather than despairing at the state of Australia’s sustainability efforts, however, I have instead realised that our approaches are, in many cases, world leading. Our building and infrastructure sustainability rating schemes and their broad industry uptake have positioned Australia as a global leader in built environment sustainability.

While many practitioners recognise the significant distance yet to travel, it is nice also to see that we are leading the way for sustainable design, construction and operation internationally. At the Living Future Unconference, 2 of the 7 individual champions presented with Awards were from Australia – a proud moment for this Aussie in the crowd!

For what it’s worth, my subjective interpretation of progress in the US and Australia is this – US projects often strive well beyond business-as-usual sustainability to emphatically push the boundaries and seek incredibly innovative outcomes. In Australia, the shift has been a more incremental approach, one often centred around rating schemes and standardised sustainability efforts. Where we have excelled, is in the consistent and widespread application of these across industry. We truly are seeing a shift in the business as usual, and almost all of the major industry and government players are coming along for the ride in some way.

So what next? Arguably our experience and leadership in sustainability rating schemes is setting us apart. So how do we leverage this and identify the key emerging sustainability innovations and approaches that will continue to raise the bar and move us towards sustainable and ultimately regenerative design?

At the fabulous Generous Cities Summit held at ASU in April, Janine Benyus (author of the 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature) asked the question:

“What if we could design cities that were functionally indistinguishable from the cities next door?”

Well if that idea doesn’t tick the box of sustainability leadership – what does?

I have spent the past year investigating leading system-level approaches to biomimicry in design. What might it look like for buildings and infrastructure? What are the key frameworks? How can we practically apply these frameworks, and what are the primary barriers? I’ve been reminded that both internationally and domestically, there is a lot of work left to do, but also that there is an extraordinary amount of opportunity and innovation revealed when we start to turn to nature for inspiration.