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Akademik Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Yıl: 5, Sayı: 48, Haziran 2017, s. 43-49

Yayın Geliş Tarihi / Article Arrival Date Yayınlanma Tarihi / The Publication Date
04.04.2017 15.06.2017

Yrd.Doç.Dr.Tuğba DÜZENLİ
Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi, Orman Fakültesi, Peyzaj Mimarlığı Bölümü
tugbaduzenli@gmail.com
Arş.Gör. Emine TARAKÇI EREN
Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi, Orman Fakültesi, Peyzaj Mimarlığı Bölümü
eminem_tarakci@hotmail.com
Arş.Gör. Duygu AKYOL
Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi, Orman Fakültesi, Peyzaj Mimarlığı Bölümü
duyguakyol@ktu.edu.tr

PEYZAJ MİMARLIĞINDA SÜRDÜRÜLEBİLİRLİK VE BİYOFİLİK TA-

SARIM KAVRAMI
Öz
Biyofilya insanın diğer tüm yaşam sistemlerine içgüdüsel olarak bağlı olduğunu or-
taya koyan bir kavramdır. Biyofilik tasarım ise, biyofilya kavramını sürdürülebilir-
lik ile ilişkilendirerek çevreye, mimariye ve kentsel tasarıma taşımaktadır. Kentsel
tasarım kalite kriterlerinin başında “sürdürülebilirlik” gelmektedir. Peyzaj mimarlı-
ğında sürdürülebilirlik, kentsel ve bölgesel ölçekte alan kullanım kararlarından,
peyzaj tasarımında insanın fiziksel, psikolojik ve sosyal konforunu sağlayıcı doğru
çözümlerin üretilmesine varan bir çeşitlilik göstermektedir. Peyzaj mimarlığı disip-
lini, insan için yaşanabilir ve sürdürülebilir gelişim hedeflerine, ancak doğayı ve
doğal süreçleri tasarım çalışmalarıyla bütünleştirdikleri zaman ulaşabilirler bu da
biyofilik tasarım yaklaşımıyla mümkün olabilir. Bu çalışmada da günümüz kav-
ramlarından biyofilik tasarım ile sürdürülebilirlik kavramları incelenerek, peyzaj
mimarlığıyla ilişkileri ortaya konmuştur.
Anahtar kelimeler: Biyofilya, Biyofilik Tasarım, Sürdürülebilirlik, Peyzaj
Mimarlığı
Peyzaj Mimarlığında Sürdürülebilirlik Ve Biyofilik Tasarım Kavramı

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY AND BIOPHILIC DESIGN IN

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Abstract
Biophilia is a concept that reveals that people are instinctively connected to all ot-
her living systems. Biophilic design relies on the concept of biophilia with sustai-
nability, and it carries the environment, architecture and urban design. At the foref-
ront of urban design quality criteria is "sustainability". Sustainability in landscape
architecture is diverse, ranging from land use decisions at the urban and regional
scale to the production of the right solutions for people's physical, psychological
and social comforts in landscape design. The landscape architecture discipline can
be achieved for human beings only when they integrate nature and natural proces-
ses into their design work, with the goal of sustainable and sustainable develop-
ment, which is possible with the biophilic design approach. In this study, concepts
of sustainability with biophilic design are examined from today's concepts, and re-
lations with landscape architecture are revealed.
Keywords: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Sustainability, Landscape
Architecture
INTRODUCTION 44

As a result of technological developments, environmental pollution has increased and

problems such as exhaustion of raw material resources have emerged. Sources have been used
spontaneously, never to be consumed, nature has not renewed itself as a result of these repressi-
ons despite the self-renewal feature. Lack of resources from the square was obtained from other
areas where this problem was not experienced first and tried to be solved, but in other areas, the
same problems emerged and the problem became global.
The ecopsychologist Theodore Roszak (1992) claims that people have become alienated
from the natural environment. Contemporary discourses of sustainable development is plagued
bythe modernistic assumptions of rationality and the separation of people from the biophysical
environment (Merchant, 1980; Macnaughten and Urry,1998; Banerjee, 2003). But sustainability
can reunite people again with the natural environment.
Sustainability can be defined as ensuring the continuity of productivity for many years
under optimal conditions. The concept is firstly used in conjunction with the concept of deve-
lopment to introduce a general framework of what should be in our lives and what needs to be
sustained. However, for the sustainability of the whole, the framework and the scale of the con-
cept have been reduced in view of the fact that constituent items must also be sustainable. By
ensuring the sustainability of the cities, it will not only solve the living environmental problems
but also increase the quality of living of the present population and create livable spaces where
the future generations can easily live their lives (Atıl et al., 2005).
Taking correct domain usage decisionsespecially in landscaping and ecological plan-
ning; the profession of the landscape architecture has to say is an important and functional need
for the creation of sustainable cities.According to McHarg (1968), sustainable development,
landscape architecture and planning disciplines can reach sustainable development goals for

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Peyzaj Mimarlığında Sürdürülebilirlik Ve Biyofilik Tasarım Kavramı

human beings only when they integrate nature and natural processes into planning and design
work. However, McHarg (1969) stated that the results of studies involving nature and natural
processes will emerge over time, considering the dynamic process of nature. It should not be
forgotten that especially in cities, this process can be slowed down by the fact that the existence
of natural areas is low. In this context, the concept of nature, design and sustainability is beco-
ming increasingly important in rare areas that have not lost their natural characteristics in urban
areas (Memlük and Başal, 2011).
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Concept of sustainability is defined as "the principle of meeting today's needs without
sacrificing the right and the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"(WCED,
1987). Sustainability can be described as "meeting current needs without harming future genera-
tions' ability to meet their needs"(McDonough, 1992). On the other hand, sustainability in the
context of development can also be explained as ensuring quality of life by taking into account
biospheric transport capacity, ecosystem and resources (Smith, 2000). According to another
definition of sustainability, not every generation will spend their main capital in their own
hands, but rather with the profit that the previous generation inherited from the inheritance. Ac-
cording to another definition, sustainability provides all the quality of life and makes access to
natural resources permanent (Ruano, 2000).
Sustainability of cities can be defined as the sustainability of societies. Human societies
45
are influenced individually by the places they live in and they also influce the places which
they live in. Ensuring the sustainability of cities is ensuring the livability and continuity of the
living standards of those living in cities and those living in the future. Sustainable urban deve-
lopment should be considered in parallel with sustainable social development.
Geenhuisen and Nijkamp (1994) approach of sustainable cities; "Cities where socio-
economic interests are harmonized with environmental and energy concerns to ensure change in
continuity".
With an ecological approach, cities are living creatures living in a certain area and inte-
racting with each other, and cultural ecosystems formed by their inanimate environment. For
this reason, cities should be in harmony with other ecosystems such as lakes, coastal and forest
ecosystems in their environment and should not harm them at least. The concept of sustainabi-
lity obligates the natural and cultural environment to be given the necessary artifacts.
Shmelev and Shmeleva (2009) define the sustainable city as "a holistic system in which
the social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects of development are harmoniously
integrated". Hiremath et al. (2013) defined urban sustainability as "the development of urban
spaces and the provision of equilibrium between equality and protection of the environment".
The concept of sustainability is not only related to environmental protection but also has eco-
nomic and social aspects and sustainability has a dynamic, balanced and adaptable structure
(Arslan, 2014).
Sustainability for designers can be described as raising the quality of life of communi-
ties without exceeding the carrying capacities of global ecosystems, either at the urban or archi-
tectural level (Oktay, 2001). Landscape Architecture is a systematic study of the concepts of
nature, planning and design; an occupational discipline dealing with planning, management and
space design of ecological-economic-functional, and therefore sustainable, by evaluating natural

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Peyzaj Mimarlığında Sürdürülebilirlik Ve Biyofilik Tasarım Kavramı

and cultural resources in the correct way, by bringing together art, science, engineering and
technology. When we look at this framework from the perspective of sustainable cities inevita-
bility, the analysis and management of environmental protection, ecosystem and resources, the
planning of rural and urban spaces, the coordination of environmental impact assessment stu-
dies; It seems that landscape architects are all involved in planning and designing recreational
areas, cultural areas, urban open spaces, pedestrian zones, highways, industrial and agricultural
areas (Atıl et al., 2005). Biophilic architecture, which combines the concepts of nature and pe-
ople, is a concept that landscape architecture discipline should focus on and it has also been
tried to be associated with sustainability by being defined within the context of the study.
BIOPHILIA AND BIOPHILIC ARCHITECTURE
“Destructiveness is not parallel to, but the alternative to, biophilia. Love of life or love
of the dead is the fundamental alternative that confronts every human being. Necrophilia grows
as the development of biophilia is stunted” (Fromm, 1973).
The Biophilia Hypothesis, which claims that humans possess a biologically based att-
raction to certain aspects of the natural environment and that their well-being depends, to a great
extent, on the relationships with the surrounding natural world (Wilson, 1978; Wilson, 1984;
Kellert, 1997; Kellert, 2002; Kellert, 2008; Ulrich, 1993). This term was first used by Erich
Fromm and used the opposite of necrophilia; As being attracted by things that are vital.Fromm
(1973) proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with nature are rooted in
46
our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the
natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have towards certain
habitats, activities, and objects in their natural surroundings (Jones, 2013).
Secondly, Edward Wilson defined Biophilia and associated it with "the consciousness
of human existence to pursue its life and to establish vital links."
In summary; Biophilia, which means to love life and living things in the the word, ref-
lects the combination of the "bio" of the "philia", which reflects the positive feelings that people
feel toward their living spaces in their natural environment, as opposed to "fears".This hypothe-
sis also explains why people are feeding pets, planting plants, visiting zoo gardens, pleasing
with greenery and natural life, and sometimes endangering their lives to save a living in danger.
The love of natural life comes from within and keeps the person alive. In this context,
every movement that is directed by the concern of continuing life and progeny is a result of
biophilia. The biophilia hypothesis has also been used to support and explain evolutionary
psychology.Today, despite the fact that human beings are disconnected from nature, in an effort
to maintain this relationship and to establish vital connections under the subconscious, antago-
nism emerges in different forms of daily life.
The fact that urban people symbolize nature symbolically represents the spatial positio-
ning of plants and animals is in fact the result of this instinctual connection. These symbolic
objects actually play an important role in meeting the human need for biophilia (Olgun and De-
met Yücel, 2012; Těšitel et al., 2001). Biophilia settlements, centering on the conservation of
all natural life forms in relation to nature and living areas and enabling them to experience the
indispensability of balancing with the cooperative learning process, can be used as a tool for
sustainable urban development (Olgun and Demet Yücel, 2012).Urban design and planning that
emulates and learns from natural lifestyles and systems, processes this knowledge on the basis

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Peyzaj Mimarlığında Sürdürülebilirlik Ve Biyofilik Tasarım Kavramı

of forms of urban buildings and urban structures. We can define the Biophilic Design as one of
the examples of deep philosophy that carries alternative qualities apart from the formal forma-
tions which are mostly limited by the superficiality of this information.
Biophilic design is the architectural concept of biophilia. Researches have put in place
that people work more efficiently in structures intertwined with nature, that they learn better and
learn more easily. Similar findings have shown that schools, hospitals and especially offices
have begun to embrace the principles of biophilic design.
The documentary entitled "Biophilic Design: Architecture of Life" by design experts
Bill Finnegan and Stephen Kellert revealed that buildings and living spaces with biophilic de-
sign bring people closer to nature. The basic elements of biophilia design include natural venti-
lation, natural lighting, forms that resemble natural processes or products, and natural landsca-
pes. In this way, people can be made to feel themselves in the natural environment.
Biophilic cities are residential areas that grow together with green by protecting the bio-
diversity of their natural areas. The typological structure of climate, topography and other local
special qualities has a special connection with the flora and fauna found there. Biophilic cities
offer opportunities for a slow movement that allows exploration, in contrast to the rapid availa-
bility of vehicle traffic. Bicycle paths increase hiking trails with green areas. Biophilic cities
provide enhanced sensory contact with natural forms and materials, visual and ocular experien-
ce. It also offers an important educational opportunity for the protection of nature. Not only the
47
prospect of nature is expected to be a living environment that supports the sense of volunteerism
in the restoration. The biophilic cities are based on a social and physical understanding that
brings together parks, natural history museums, visits to wildlife centers, direct integration into
life, and natural areas as a neighboring area beyond daily visits. Biophilic cities undertake action
to limit the effects of resource use on nature and biodiversity beyond their own urban borders
(Biyofilik Cities, 2011; Olgun and Demet Yücel, 2012).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Landscape architects should also adopt the philosophy of lifelong learning in their own
field and fulfill the necessity to translate what they have learned into concrete perspectives and
concrete approaches in order to prevent the development of technology and a world understan-
ding that keeps pace with it. The designer must always act as a unifying agent, a compromise
platform for different environments, and take leadership in building this sustainable society
structure with this consciousness. It must be perceived that the landscape and the landscape
architect, who can take place among today's consumption objects without fully perceiving the
concept of sustainability, assume a conscious and informative role in this environment.
It is necessary to know where the terms and quests used in the definition of sustainabi-
lity overlap with the truth of sustainability. It is important for landscape architects to decide
what criteria of "biophilia" can be included in the scope of sustainability in terms of criteria.
The sustainability criteria set in the study and biophilic design criteria have been defined and
associated, thus aiming to shed light on landscape architects.

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