BioCities

Background—Cities are responsible for ~75% of global carbon emissions; and their designs, as well as the way they are built, maintained, and upgraded, are all key drivers behind their environmental unsustainability. In the field of Urban Futures, biological approaches to design and fabrication are highly innovative practices that are showing huge promises to address key issues of sustainability—as often discussed by Prof Rachel Armstrong (Newcastle University, UK) and Associate Prof Neri Oxman (MIT Media Lab, USA). Contribution—In March 2020, I presented BioCities: a living architecture and biophilic design exhibition investigating points of departure in the way we think, design, and live within future urban systems. Through a series of speculative bio-architectural and bio-urban concepts—e.g., the use of coloured Organic Photo-Voltaic cells and bacterial batteries in low-carbon skyscrapers, a bio-brick enabling moss growth for lowering ambient temperatures through evaporative cooling—BioCities explored how architecture, materials, energy, and other areas where biological design can make a difference could help us create more resilient and regenerative cities. It presented novel ideas on how the built environment can shape new societal and cultural narratives and help us mend our relationship with nature. Significance—Co-funded by the National Gallery of Victoria, RMIT School of Design, and RMIT Urban Futures ECP (total budget: $8k AUD), the BioCities exhibition was selected for the 2020 National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Design Week. Based on the success of the exhibition opening attended by ~80-100 people from industry and the public, I was invited to join the Melbourne Design Week Regenerative Biodesign: Co-evolving Sustainability panel discussion at M-Pavilion and write an opinion piece for Biodesigned Magazine in the USA titled The Politics of Biodesign (published January 2021).