The urban body is composed of several interconnected layers of dynamic structure, all influencing each other in a non-linear manner. This interaction results in emergent properties, which are not predictable except through a dynamical analysis of the connected whole. This approach therefore links Biourbanism to the Life Sciences

1. Gazi University, Department of Architecture
EWTA 2011
International Design Workshops
on Tourism and Architecture
T i d A hit t
Elective Course for Architectural Last Year Students
6/18 June, Aycalik (Turkey)
Dr. Arch. Antonio Caperna, PhD
E-mail: antonio.caperna@yahoo.it
Antonio Caperna, PhD

2. BIOURBANISM
TOWARDS AN HUMAN ORIENTED DESIGN

3. PART ONE
Architecture and context: XX century
i. paradigm
ii. Policies, economy and society
iii. Architecture and urbanism
PART TWO
Introduction to Biourbanism

4. GENERAL OVERVIEW
History, philosophy, policy, religion, science,
CITY etc.
Philosophy / culture
XVII Shift Scientific revolution
Century paradigm Industrial revolution
ECONOMY ENERGY UNSUSTAINABLE SYSTEM
CITY
Ξ Pollution, waste,
Pollution waste social and
economical divide,
urbanization, globalization, …
POLICIES

5. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
The Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm contends that the
p y
physical world is made up of basic entities with distinct
p
properties distinguishing one element from another.
Isolating and reducing the physical world to is most basic
entities, its separate parts, provides us with completely
knowable, predictable, and therefore controllable physical
universe. . .
ni erse
.The Cartesian Newtonian paradigm contends that the physical
The Cartesian-Newtonian
universe is governed by immutable laws and therefore is
determined and predictable, like an enormous machine. In
principle,
principle knowledge of the world could be complete in all its
details. (De Jong)
Antonio Caperna,

6. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
According to Descartes, our world is:
-The machine metaphor - universe as
clockwork
- Ph
Phenomena can b reduced t simple
be d d to i l
cause & effect relationships governed by
linear laws
- possible to comprehend it thought its
parts
- formed by objects
- relationships are not important

7. Cultural, economical, Environmental and
Architectural pattern.

8. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Global Policy since 1950 has been an emphasis on:
1. faster
1 f t economic growth “growth fetish”
i th “ th f ti h”
2. the pursuit of economic growth is a sole measure of national
success
3.
3 Increasing power in f
I i i fewer hands
h d
4. Profit motive bottom line of corps
5. lack of true cost accounting--environmental costs not included--it is
treated
t t d as public good and th exploited
bli d d thus l it d
6. Unregulated economic globalization without concern for social and
environmental consequences
7.
7 Economic growth is measured by real rate of growth in a country's total
gro th meas red b gro th co ntr 's
output of goods and services or real GDP
8. Elite powerbrokers/nations erected new politics, ideologies, and
institutions predicated on these ideas/principles
9. Harnessing fossil fuels played a central role in widening int’l wealth &
power

10. B I O
URBANISM
“Instead of an existentially grounded plastic and
spatial experience, architecture has adopted the
psychological strategy of advertising and instant
persuasion; buildings have turned into image
products detached from existential depth and
sincerity” (J. Pallasmaa)

11. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
MOBILITY’S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
30% of the world’s energy consumption is used by the transport sector;
People spend 10% of their time in transport
Mobility is critical for the functioning of our society

12. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Peak oil
Source: Energy Information Administration
The
Th way i which cities and gadgets shall b d i
in hi h iti d d t h ll be designed i th future shall
d in the f t h ll
be directly affected by the availability of fuels and resources.
Will technology be the catalyst that allows us to deal with a resource
shortage?
Is the rate at which our society progresses sustainable when our most
important primary resource is running out?

13. Since 1979, the size of the summer polar ice cap has shrunk more than 20 percent.
(Illustration from NASA) (http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/qthinice.asp)

14. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
What will Climate Change mean?
Rising sea levels
g
increased flooding and drought
hotter summers
wetter winters
more freak weather events
millions of people on the move in
Africa and Asia -
hunger, unrest, homelessness, disease
conflict - water, food, resources

15. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
The 20th Century Model
Increased Consumption
More Waste Generation
Worldwide fossil fuel consumption
quintupled since 1950
Freshwater consumption doubled
since 1960

16. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
I. More environmental degradation than any pt in history
II. More inequality between humans than any pt in history
III. More complexity to problems themselves
IV. Ideology that technology is part of “progress” that will save
day; abstraction of nature
V. massive population increase: both from increased
consumption of earth’s resources and our ecological footprint
(straining earth’s carrying capacity)
VI. rapid technological innovation: permits massive extraction
and exploitation of resources
p
VII. an explosion in energy use: 1 & 2 facilitate energy use,
complemented by elite discourse promoting consumptive
behavior
VIII. 4) economic integration: promoted through globalization
(Fordism) led to mass consumerism and the “growth
imperative”
i ti ”

17. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

18. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
essential problems of architecture
1. There are issues of value, that cannot be separated from the main task of serving
functional needs. Thus, aesthetics—dismissed as subjective in much contemporary
science—lies at the core of architecture.
2. There is the issue of context—a building grows out of, and must complement, the
place where it appears.
3. There is the issue of design and creation - processes capable of generating unity.
4.
4 There is the issue of human feeling: since of course no building can be considered
since, course,
if it does not connect, somehow, to human feeling as an objective matter.
5. There is the issue of ecological and sustainable and biological connection to the
land.
land
6. There is the vital issue of social agreement regarding decision making in regards to
a complex system: this arises naturally when hundreds of people need to make
decisions together – often the case in the human environment
environment.
7. There is the issue of emerging beauty of shape, as the goal and outcome of all
processes.

19. BIOURBANISM: A GENERAL OVERVIEW
City form
Policy
Democratic (Bottom- Green Buildings
up) processes ENERGY Renewable energies
Societal, Grid energy system
glo-cal
e-gov
e-democracy
P2P urbanism
BIO HUMAN ORIENTED
DESIGN
NETWORK
URBANISM
Reinforcement of life systems
Biophilia Hypothesis
Participatory Design
Morphogenetic Design
Environmental Psychology
Change of Patterns Neurophysiology
Cultural SHIFT PARADIGM Sensory Urbanism
Economical Complex approach
Educational

20. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
BIOURBANISM MANIFESTO
Antonio Caperna, Alessia Cerqua, Alessandro Giuliani, Nikos A. Salingaros, Stefano Serafini
Biourbanism focuses on the urban organism, considering it as a hypercomplex
system, according to its internal and external dynamics and their mutual
interactions.
interactions
The urban body is composed of several interconnected layers of dynamic structure,
all influencing each other in a non-linear manner. This interaction results in emergent
p ope t es,
properties, which are not predictable except through a dynamical analysis of the
c a e ot p ed ctab e e cept t oug dy a ca a a ys s o t e
connected whole. This approach therefore links Biourbanism to the Life Sciences,
and to Integrated Systems Sciences like Statistical Mechanics, Thermodynamics,
Operations Research, and Ecology in an essential manner. The similarity of
p gy y
approaches lies not only in the common methodology, but also in the content of the
results (hence the prefix “Bio”), because the city represents the living
environment of the human species.
Biourbanism recognizes “optimal forms” defined at different scales (from the purely
physiological up to the ecological levels) which, through morphogenetic processes,
guarantee an optimum of systemic efficiency and for the quality of life of the
inhabitants. A design that does not follow these laws produces anti-natural, hostile
environments, which do not fit into an individual’s evolution, and thus fail to enhance
life in any way.

21. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
BIOURBANISM MANIFESTO
The aim of Biourbanism is to make a scientific contribution towards:
(i) the development and implementation of the premises of Deep
Ecology on social-environmental grounds;
(ii) the identification and actualization of environmental
enhancement according to the natural needs of human beings and
the ecosystem in which they live;
(iii) managing the transition of the fossil fuel economy towards a
new organizational model of civilization; and
f
(iv) deepening the organic interaction between cultural and physical
factors in urban reality (as, for example, the geometry of social
action, fluxes and networks study, etc.).

22. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
SHIFT PARADIGM
Complexity science is a science of understanding changeù
A loosely bound collection of ideas, principles and
influences from a number of other bodies of knowledge,
including
chaos theory
fractal geometry
cybernetics
y
complex adaptive systems
postmodernism
systems thinking
Discovery of similar patterns, processes and relationships
in a wide variety of phenomena
related to the nature and dynamics of change

23. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Complex systems
Collection of parts, which collectively
parts
have a range of dimensions
Parts share an physical or symbolic
environment / space
Action by any part can affect the whole
E.g. individuals, families, communities, cities,
markets, societies populations economies,
markets societies, populations, economies
nations, planets

24. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
… it includes a passage from:
the part to the whole
structure to process
objective science to epistemology
building to network as metaphor for knowledge
truth to approximate descriptions
Shifting Attitudes about the Environment
Things versus Relations between Things
Economy and Ecology versus Integration
Techno-development versus Eco-development

25. Complexity also means that systems need to be understood at different scales
y y
Communities
Atom
Organisms
Molecule
Tissue
Cell
Organs

26. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
RECENT STUDY
Stress (Ulrich, 1993)
heart rate blood pressure, relax muscle
rate, pressure
tension, increase alpha waves that
associated with relaxation. (Ulrich et al.,
1991)
immune system functioning (Parsons,
1991)
a ety, ea , anger, aggression and
anxiety, fear, a ge , agg ess o a d
increased feelings of well begin are
common responses to natural settings
(
(Ulrich, 1979, Hartig, Mang, & Evans,
, , g, g, ,
1991)
Interaction in natural environments also
increase problem solving, creativity,
capacity to concentrate and focus
(Ulrich, 1993, Katcher& Wilkins, 1993)
Enhances feelings of awe, mystery,
spiritual transcendence (Besthorn&
Saleeby, 2003)

27. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Morphogenetics
Design Process
(MDP)

28. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
MORPHOGENESYS
The process can be seen clearly in embryogenesis where the whole
embryogenesis,
organism is going through a continuous transformation that preserves
the whole, but also articulates new structures. And the process is
clearly coded according to simple chemical operations at the molecular
scale – but operations that quickly become vastly complex and
interactive at larger scales.
Comparison of bat and mouse limb embryogenesis – a process of stepwise differentiation of
wholes with new parts – but always preserving the whole

29. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
fractals in typical Ethiopian
village architecture
… organisms, computer
programs, buildings,
neighbourhoods, and
cities share the same
general rules governing a
complex hierarchical
system.

31. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Gloucester, cathedral, chiostro
Granada : Alhambra

32. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Traditional urban
geometry is
characterized by
fractal interfaces
(Batty and Longley, Cobweb
1994; Bovill, 1996;
Frankhauser, 1994).
Frankha ser 1994)
The simplest definition Aerial
of a fractal is a view of
structure that shows Chinese
complexity at any town
magnification

33. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Musei Vaticani, Rome

34. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Nodes: chemicals (substrates)
Metabolic Network
Links: bio-chemical reactions
Neuronal Network
Music
Internet

35. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
P2PURBANISM
P2P urbanism
Definition prepared by the “Peer-to-peer Urbanism Task Force” consisting of Antonio Caperna, Michael Mehaffy, Geeta
Mehta, Federico Mena-Quintero, Agatino Rizzo, Nikos A. Salingaros, Stefano Serafini, and Emanuele Strano

36. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
RECENT STUDY
Stress (Ulrich, 1993)
heart rate blood pressure, relax muscle
rate, pressure
tension, increase alpha waves that
associated with relaxation. (Ulrich et al.,
1991)
immune system functioning (Parsons,
1991)
a ety, ea , anger, aggression and
anxiety, fear, a ge , agg ess o a d
increased feelings of well begin are
common responses to natural settings
(
(Ulrich, 1979, Hartig, Mang, & Evans,
, , g, g, ,
1991)
Interaction in natural environments also
increase problem solving, creativity,
capacity to concentrate and focus
(Ulrich, 1993, Katcher& Wilkins, 1993)
Enhances feelings of awe, mystery,
spiritual transcendence (Besthorn&
Saleeby, 2003)

37. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
BIOPHILIA
is the innately emotional affiliation of
human beings to other living organisms
“Wilson and other Biophilia theorists
assert that human beings not only
derive specific aesthetic benefits from
interacting with nature but that the
nature,
human species has an instinctive,
genetically determined need to
deeply affiliate with natural setting
and life-forms.” (Besthorn& Saleeby,
2003)

38. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
What is Biophilia?
“For human survival and mental health and
fulfillment, we need the natural setting in which
the h
h human mind almost certainly evolved and in
i d l i l l d di
which culture has developed over these millions
of years of evolution ”
evolution.
An intersection between psychology and biology the
p y gy gy
connection is genetic – it resides in the common
parts of our DNA

39. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
BENEFIT FROM BIOPHILIC DESIGN
What role does Green Space play in the Urban Environment?
a o do pa p ay U ba o
• Environmental
• Psychological
• Neurophysiological
• Physical Health
• Social

40. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
• Contact with nature has been found
to enhance healing and recovery
g y
from illness and major surgical
procedures, including direct contact
(e.g., natural li h i
( l lighting, vegetation), as
i )
well as representational and symbolic
depictions of nature (e g pictures)
(e.g., pictures).
Photos courtesy of Legacy Health System

41. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
• Contact with nature has been
linked to cognitive functioning
g g
on tasks requiring concentration
and memory.
• Healthy childhood maturation
and development has been
correlated with contact with
natural features and settings.
g
• The human brain responds
functionally t sensory patterns
f ti ll to tt
and cues emanating from the
natural environment.
environment

42. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
• Communities with higher-
q
quality environments reveal
y
more positive valuations
of nature, superior quality
of life, greater
f lif
neighborliness, and a
stronger sense of place
than communities of lower
environmental quality.
q y
These findings also occur
in poor urban as well as
more affluent and suburban
ffl t d b b
neighborhoods.

43. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system
function
Understand how our brain
interact with urban
i t t ith b
environment in psychological,
biological, emotional term
Urban environment as communication system
in physical, sensorial, psychological and biological term

44. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Environmental
Gardens & green space can account for 30-50% of city space and
help mitigate many of the environmental problems associated with
the built environment
Urban ‘Heat Island’ effect
Concrete & other building material absorb heat
“Heat wave” in 2003 thought to cause 35,000 premature deaths in
central Europe
Turf 25oC cooler than Asphalt
Parks can be 5.9oC cooler at night than suburbs
‘Leafy’ suburb 2-3oC cooler than new suburb –(Wolf 2004)
Trees in school playgrounds –surface temp 25oC cooler, air temp
p yg p , p
10oC cooler –(Moog-Soulis, 2002)
10% increase in city Greenspace–reduce temps by 4oC –(Gill et al.
2007)

45. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Building emulate nature
The most astonishing ventilation syste
ms, h however, h
have b
been ddeveloped b
l d by
various species of termites.
one example of sustainable
architecture that uses dram
atically less energy by imitat
ing the successful strategies
of indigenous natural syste
ms. The building, the countr
y's largest commercial and s
hopping complex, uses the s
ame heating and cooling pri
nciples as a local termite mo
und

46. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
BEST PRACTICES

47. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
access to open and/or moving water
p / g
These more conventional water
features are also accessible to the
majority,
majority are easier to maintain and
cleaner than the traditional paddling
pool.

48. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Vegetable Façade
• Edable fruits (e.g. Wine)
(e g
• Biomass production
• Dust reduction
• Heavy metal reduction
• Thermal insulation
• Energy savings
• Noise reduction
• Biodiversity
• Evapotranspiration cooling

49. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Vegetable Façade
COPENHAGEN (DK) - In central Copenhagen a living map of Europe has appeared on the
facade of the European Environment Agency (EEA) offices. Designed by architect Johanna
Rossbach, with Mangor & Nagel Arkitektirma, the vegetative, custom-fitted screen
celebrates the old continent's biodiversity, with plants arranged according to their
respective regional origins. Reflecting a burgeoning trend toward living facades in urban
contexts, the forward-thinking project stresses the use of indigenous species when
choosing to 'green' the urban environment, an essential step toward the preservation of
local ecologies.

50. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
By absorbing rainwater, the new Academy’s living roof will prevent up to 3.6 million
y g y g p p
gallons of runoff from carrying pollutants into the ecosystem each year (about 98% of
all storm water).
Reclaimed water from the City of San Francisco will be used to flush the toilets,
reducing the use of potable water for wastewater conveyance by 90%90%.

51. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Folding Bamboo Houses

52. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
ufficio nei boschi realizzato dagli architetti Jose
Selgas e Lucia Cano Architects

53. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

54. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Vertical Garden, Fair Street Housing, London, United Kingdom

55. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
A sensory garden: A self-contained
area that concentrates a wide
range of sensory experiences.
The Sonic Garden Lab at "Castello del Bisarno“, Firenze

57. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Restoration of Angelo Mai’s
Garden
By
y
Katarzyna Urbanowicz
Kalina Dobija – Dziubczynska

58. Angelo Mai. Courtyard and garden

59. Angelo Mai. Map of diagnosis

60. PATTERNS
schemes and trees
of the main pattrens

62. PLAN
A-A
SECTIONS
B-B

63. WATER
CIRCULATION
all the pools and fountains are
connected,
water circulates using the differences
of the ground levels
(with a pomp in one place)
LABIRYNTH
This part of the garden is more
natural and created as an organic
labirynth with kind of ‘theme rooms .
theme rooms’

64. DIFFERENT KINDS OF SEAT SPOTS

65. THE POOL WITH ‘GLASS BALLS’
CENTER 2’
Antonio Caperna, PhD

66. THE POOL WITH ‘GLASS BALLS’
CENTER 2’
Antonio Caperna, PhD

67. WATER WALL CENTER 3’
Antonio Caperna, PhD

68. THE POOL WITH WOODEN-BLOCK-PATHS
On the north boundary, there is quite a big but also
very shallow pool. Many stones or wooden blocks
which finish over the water surface create paths on
h hf h h f h
the water and let people choose thair own way of
passing.
The pool
has two
levels and is
finished with
kind of
steps.
Antonio Caperna, PhD

69. THE POOL WITH WOODEN-BLOCK-PATHS

70. ROOF TERRACES

71. COFFEE – BOOKSHOP TERRACE
Antonio Caperna, PhD

72. COFFEE – BOOKSHOP TERRACE
Antonio Caperna, PhD

73. References
Alexander, Christopher (2000) The Nature of Order (New York, Oxford University Press). (in
press)
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I. and Angel, S. (1977) A
Pattern Language (New York, Oxford University Press).
g g ( , y )
Alexander, C., Neis, H., Anninou, A. and King, I. (1987) A New Theory of Urban Design (New York,
Oxford University Press).
Batty, Michael and Longley, Paul (1994) Fractal Cities (London, Academic Press).
Bovill, Carl (1996) Fractal Geometry in Architecture and Design (Boston, Birkhäuser).
, ( ) y g ( , )
Salingaros, Nikos A. (1995) "The Laws of Architecture from a Physicist's Perspective", Physics
Essays, Vol. 8 pp. 638-643.
Salingaros, Nikos A. (1998) "Theory of the Urban Web", Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 3 pp. 53-71.
[
[Earlier version ppublished electronically by Resource for Urban Design Information in 1997
y y g
Salingaros, Nikos A. (1999) "Urban Space and its Information Field", Journal of Urban Design,
Vol. 4 pp. 29-49.
Salingaros, Nikos A. (2000) "Structure of Pattern Languages", Architectural Research Quarterly,
Vol. 4 pp. 149-161.
pp
Salingaros, Nikos A. and West, Bruce J. (1999) "A Universal Rule for the Distribution of Sizes",
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Vol. 26 pp. 909-923.
Caperna A., Introduction to The Pattern Language, www.archimagazine.com
Caperna A., ICT per un Progetto Urbano Sostenibile, www.tesionline.it
p p g
http://www.biourbanism.org
http://www.pism.uniroma3.it

74. References
Nikos Salingaros, Twelve Lectures on Architecture. Algorithmic Sustainable Design, Solingen: Umbau
Verlag, 2010.
Nikos Salingaros, Antonio Caperna, Michael Mehaffy, Geeta Mehta, Federico Mena--Quintero, Agatino
Rizzo, Stefano Serafini, Emanuele Strano, «A Definition of P2P (Peer-To‐Peer) Urbanism», AboutUsWiki,
, , , ( ) , ,
the P2P Foundation, DorfWiki, Peer to Peer Urbanism (September 2010). Presented by Nikos Salingaros at
the International Commons Conference, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, 1st November 2010.
Milena De Matteis, Stefano Serafini (eds.), Progettare la città a misura d’uomo. L’alternativa ecologica del
Gruppo Salìngaros: una città p bella e p g
pp g più più giusta, Rome: SIBU, 2010.
, ,
Joseph P. Zbilut, Alessandro Giuliani, Simplicity. The Latent Order of Complexity, New York: Nova Science
Publishers, 2007.
Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order, 4 vol., Berkeley, CA: Center for Environmental Structure,
2002-2005.
Grant Hildebrand, Origins of architectural pleasure, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
Stephen R. Kellert, Edward O. Wilson (eds.), The Biophilia Hypotesis, Washington: Island Press, 1993.
René Thom, Esquisse d’une Sémiophysique, Paris: InterEditions, 1991.
Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Evolution without Selection. Form and Function by Autoevolution, London – New
y
York – Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1988.
Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the
Human Sciences), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1979.
Conrad H. Waddington, Tools for Thought, London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1977.
g g p
Edgar Morin, La Méthode: La Nature de la Nature, Paris: Seuil, 1977.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory, New York: George Braziller, 1968.

75. WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG