Gazi University, Department of Architecture

EWTA 2011

International Design Workshops

on Tourism
T
i
and
d Architecture
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

BIOURBANISM
TOWARDS AN HUMAN ORIENTED DESIGN

PART ONE
Architecture and context: XX century
i. paradigm
ii. Policies, economy and society
iii. Architecture and urbanism

PART TWO
Introduction to Biourbanism

GENERAL

OVERVIEW

History, philosophy, policy, religion, science,

etc.

CITY

Philosophy / culture

XVII
Century

Shift
paradigm

ECONOMY

ENERGY

CITY
POLICIES

Scientific revolution
Industrial revolution

UNSUSTAINABLE SYSTEM
Pollution, waste
Pollution
waste, social and
economical divide,
urbanization, globalization,

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The Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm contends that the

physical
p
y
world is made up
p of basic entities with distinct
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
The Cartesian
Cartesian-Newtonian
Newtonian paradigm contends that the physical
universe is governed by immutable laws and therefore is
determined and predictable, like an enormous machine. In
principle knowledge of the world could be complete in all its
principle,
details. (De Jong)

Antonio Caperna,

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

According to Descartes, our world is:

-The machine metaphor - universe as
clockwork
- Phenomena
Ph
can b
be reduced
d
d tto simple
i l
cause & effect relationships governed by
linear laws
- possible to comprehend it thought its
parts
- formed by objects
- relationships are not important

Cultural, economical, Environmental and

Architectural pattern.

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Global Policy since 1950 has been an emphasis on:

1. faster
1
f t economic
i growth
th growth

th fetish
f ti h
2. the pursuit of economic growth is a sole measure of national
3.
3
4.
5.
6.
7
7.
8.
9.

success
I
Increasing
i power in
i ffewer hands
h d
Profit motive bottom line of corps
lack of true cost accounting--environmental costs not included--it is
t t d as public
treated
bli good
d and
d th
thus exploited
l it d
Unregulated economic globalization without concern for social and
environmental consequences
Economic growth
gro th is measured
meas red by
b real rate of growth
gro th in a country's
co ntr 's total
output of goods and services or real GDP
Elite powerbrokers/nations erected new politics, ideologies, and
institutions predicated on these ideas/principles
Harnessing fossil fuels played a central role in widening intl wealth &
power

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)

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MOBILITYS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
30% of the worlds 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

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Peak oil

Source: Energy Information Administration

The way iin which

Th
hi h cities
iti and
d gadgets
d t shall
h ll b
be d
designed
i
d iin th
the future
f t
shall
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?

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)

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

What will Climate Change mean?

Risingg sea levels
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

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The 20th Century Model

9 Increased Consumption
9 More Waste Generation
9 Worldwide fossil fuel consumption
quintupled since 1950
9 Freshwater consumption doubled
since 1960

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I.
II.
III.
IV.

More environmental degradation than any pt in history

More inequality between humans than any pt in history
More complexity to problems themselves
Ideology that technology is part of progress that will save
day; abstraction of nature
V. massive population increase: both from increased
consumption of earths resources and our ecological footprint
(straining earths carrying capacity)
VI. rapid technological innovation: permits massive extraction
and exploitation
p
of resources
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
i
imperative
ti

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essential problems of architecture
1. There are issues of value, that cannot be separated from the main task of serving
functional needs. Thus, aestheticsdismissed as subjective in much contemporary
sciencelies at the core of architecture.
2. There is the issue of contexta 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. There is the issue of human feeling: since
4
since, of course
course, no building can be considered
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.

BIOURBANISM: A GENERAL OVERVIEW

Policy
Democratic (Bottomup) processes
Societal,
glo-cal
e-gov
e-democracy
P2P urbanism

ENERGY

BIO
NETWORK

City form
Green Buildings
Renewable energies
Grid energy system

HUMAN ORIENTED
DESIGN

URBANISM
Reinforcement of life systems

Change of Patterns

Cultural
Economical
Educational

SHIFT PARADIGM
Complex approach

Biophilia Hypothesis
Participatory Design
Morphogenetic Design
Environmental Psychology
Neurophysiology
Sensory Urbanism

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
properties,
p
ope t es, which
c a
are
e not
ot p
predictable
ed ctab e e
except
cept tthrough
oug a dy
dynamical
a ca a
analysis
a ys s o
of tthe
e
connected whole. This approach therefore links Biourbanism to the Life Sciences,
and to Integrated Systems Sciences like Statistical Mechanics, Thermodynamics,
Operations
p
Research, and Ecology
gy in an essential manner. The similarityy of
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 individuals evolution, and thus fail to enhance
life in any way.

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 off civilization; and
(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.).

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
SHIFT PARADIGM

Complexity science is a science of understanding change

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

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Complex systems
Collection of parts,
parts which collectively
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,
markets,
societies populations,
populations economies
economies,
nations, planets

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

it includes a passage from:

9 the part to the whole

9 structure to process
9 objective science to epistemology
9 building to network as metaphor for knowledge
9 truth to approximate descriptions

9 Shifting Attitudes about the Environment

9 Things versus Relations between Things
9 Economy and Ecology versus Integration
9 Techno-development versus Eco-development

Complexity
y also means that systems
y
need to be understood at different scales

Communities
Atom

Organisms
Molecule
Tissue
Cell

Organs

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
RECENT STUDY
Stress (Ulrich, 1993)
heart rate
rate, blood pressure,
pressure relax muscle
tension, increase alpha waves that
associated with relaxation. (Ulrich et al.,
1991)
immune system functioning (Parsons,
1991)
anxiety,
ety, fear,
ea , a
anger,
ge , agg
aggression
ess o a
and
d
a
increased feelings of well begin are
common responses to natural settings
((Ulrich,, 1979,, Hartig,
g, Mang,
g, & Evans,,
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)

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Morphogenetics
Design Process
(MDP)

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

MORPHOGENESYS
The process can be seen clearly in embryogenesis
embryogenesis, where the whole
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

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.

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Gloucester, cathedral, chiostro

Granada : Alhambra

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Traditional urban
geometry is
characterized by
fractal interfaces
(Batty and Longley,
1994; Bovill, 1996;
Frankha ser 1994)
Frankhauser,
1994).
The simplest definition
of a fractal is a
structure that shows
complexity at any
magnification

Cobweb
Aerial
view of
Chinese
town

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Musei Vaticani, Rome

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Metabolic Network

Nodes: chemicals (substrates)

Links: bio-chemical reactions

Neuronal Network

Music
Internet

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

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
RECENT STUDY
Stress (Ulrich, 1993)
heart rate
rate, blood pressure,
pressure relax muscle
tension, increase alpha waves that
associated with relaxation. (Ulrich et al.,
1991)
immune system functioning (Parsons,
1991)
anxiety,
ety, fear,
ea , a
anger,
ge , agg
aggression
ess o a
and
d
a
increased feelings of well begin are
common responses to natural settings
((Ulrich,, 1979,, Hartig,
g, Mang,
g, & Evans,,
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)

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
nature, but that the
human species has an instinctive,
genetically determined need to
deeply affiliate with natural setting
and life-forms. (Besthorn& Saleeby,
2003)

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
i d almost
l
certainly
i l evolved
l d and
d in
i
which culture has developed over these millions
of years of evolution.
evolution
9 An intersection between p
psychology
y
gy and biology
gy the
connection is genetic it resides in the common
parts of our DNA

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

BENEFIT FROM BIOPHILIC DESIGN

What
a role
o does
do Green Space
pa play
p ay in the Urban
U ba Environment?
o

Environmental
Psychological
Neurophysiological
Physical Health
Social

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Contact with nature has been found

to enhance healing
g and recovery
y
from illness and major surgical
procedures, including direct contact
(
(e.g.,
naturall lilighting,
hi
vegetation),
i ) as
well as representational and symbolic
depictions of nature (e
(e.g.,
g pictures)
pictures).

Photos courtesy of Legacy Health System

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Contact with nature has been

linked to cognitive
g
functioning
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
f
functionally
ti
ll to
t sensory patterns
tt
and cues emanating from the
natural environment.
environment

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Communities with higherquality

q
y environments reveal
more positive valuations
of nature, superior quality
off life,
lif greater
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
ffl
t and
d suburban
b b
neighborhoods.

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system

function

Understand how our brain

i t
interact
t with
ith urban
b
environment in psychological,
biological, emotional term

Urban environment as communication system

in physical, sensorial, psychological and biological term

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
9 Concrete & other building material absorb heat
9 Heat wave in 2003 thought to cause 35,000 premature deaths in
central Europe
9 Turf 25oC cooler than Asphalt
9 Parks can be 5.9oC cooler at night than suburbs
9 Leafy suburb 2-3oC cooler than new suburb (Wolf 2004)
playgrounds
yg
surface temp
p 25oC cooler,, air temp
p
9 Trees in school p
10oC cooler (Moog-Soulis, 2002)
9 10% increase in city Greenspacereduce temps by 4oC (Gill et al.
2007)

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Building emulate nature
The most astonishing ventilation syste
ms, however,
h
h
have
b
been
d
developed
l
d by
b
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

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

BEST PRACTICES

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

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

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Vegetable Faade

Edable fruits (e.g.

(e g Wine)
Biomass production
Dust reduction
Heavy metal reduction
Thermal insulation
Energy savings
Noise reduction
Biodiversity
Evapotranspiration cooling

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG
Vegetable Faade

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.

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

By
y absorbing
g rainwater, the new Academys
y living
g roof will prevent
p
up
p to 3.6 million
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%

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Folding Bamboo Houses

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ufficio nei boschi realizzato dagli architetti Jose

Selgas e Lucia Cano Architects

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Vertical Garden, Fair Street Housing, London, United Kingdom

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A sensory garden: A self-contained
area that concentrates a wide
range of sensory experiences.

The Sonic Garden Lab at "Castello del Bisarno, Firenze

WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG

Restoration of Angelo Mais

Garden
By
y
Katarzyna Urbanowicz
Kalina Dobija Dziubczynska

Angelo Mai. Courtyard and garden

Angelo Mai. Map of diagnosis

PATTERNS

schemes and trees

of the main pattrens

PLAN

A-A

SECTIONS

B-B

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
theme rooms
rooms.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SEAT SPOTS

THE POOL WITH GLASS BALLS

CENTER 2

Antonio Caperna, PhD

THE POOL WITH GLASS BALLS

CENTER 2

Antonio Caperna, PhD

WATER WALL

CENTER 3

Antonio Caperna, PhD

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
h h finish
f h over the
h water surface
f
create paths
h on
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

THE POOL WITH WOODEN-BLOCK-PATHS

ROOF TERRACES

COFFEE BOOKSHOP TERRACE

Antonio Caperna, PhD

COFFEE BOOKSHOP TERRACE

Antonio Caperna, PhD

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
g g ((New York,, Oxford University
y Press).
)
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
y in Architecture and Design
g ((Boston,, Birkhuser).
)
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 p
published electronically
y by
y Resource for Urban Design
g Information in 1997
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
pp. 149-161.
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
p
A., ICT per
p un Progetto
g
Urbano Sostenibile, www.tesionline.it

http://www.biourbanism.org
http://www.pism.uniroma3.it

References
9Nikos Salingaros, Twelve Lectures on Architecture. Algorithmic Sustainable Design, Solingen: Umbau
Verlag, 2010.
9 Nikos Salingaros, Antonio Caperna, Michael Mehaffy, Geeta Mehta, Federico Mena--Quintero, Agatino
Rizzo,, Stefano Serafini,, Emanuele Strano,, A Definition of P2P (Peer-ToPeer)
(
) Urbanism,, AboutUsWiki,,
the P2P Foundation, DorfWiki, Peer to Peer Urbanism (September 2010). Presented by Nikos Salingaros at
the International Commons Conference, Heinrich Bll Foundation, Berlin, 1st November 2010.
9 Milena De Matteis, Stefano Serafini (eds.), Progettare la citt a misura duomo. Lalternativa ecologica del
Gruppo
pp Salngaros:
g
una citt p
pi bella e p
pi g
giusta,, Rome: SIBU,, 2010.
9 Joseph P. Zbilut, Alessandro Giuliani, Simplicity. The Latent Order of Complexity, New York: Nova Science
Publishers, 2007.
9 Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order, 4 vol., Berkeley, CA: Center for Environmental Structure,
2002-2005.
9 Grant Hildebrand, Origins of architectural pleasure, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
9Stephen R. Kellert, Edward O. Wilson (eds.), The Biophilia Hypotesis, Washington: Island Press, 1993.
9 Ren Thom, Esquisse dune Smiophysique, Paris: InterEditions, 1991.
9 Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Evolution without Selection. Form and Function by
y Autoevolution, London New
York Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1988.
9 Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the
Human Sciences), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1979.
9 Conrad H. Waddington,
g
Tools for Thought,
g London: Jonathan Cape
p Ltd., 1977.
9 Edgar Morin, La Mthode: La Nature de la Nature, Paris: Seuil, 1977.
9 Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory, New York: George Braziller, 1968.

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WWW.BIOURBANISM.ORG