Regenerative Urban Design & Ecosystem Biomimicry

02/11/2025

Denmark is turning heads with a creative solution to urban biodiversity. In the busy harbors of Copenhagen, floating islands covered with wildflowers are being used to create habitats for birds, bees, and other wildlife. According to MAST, these islands are part of the Copenhagen Islands project, also known as Parkipelago, designed by architect Marshall Blecher and the Danish studio Fokstrot. The goal is to bring nature back into the city’s waterfront while offering flexible public spaces that adapt to climate challenges.

Each island is built from sustainable materials and planted with native grasses, trees, and wildflowers. According to ArchDaily, the first prototype, called CPH-Ø1, was launched in 2018 and quickly became a popular spot for exhibitions, quiet retreats, and even stargazing. The islands are mobile and can be relocated to different parts of the harbor, helping activate underused areas and offering green space for boaters and kayakers.

The ecological impact is impressive. According to Oh Epic, the islands support a wide range of species, including pollinators like bees and butterflies, nesting birds, and marine life such as fish and mollusks. By blending art, ecology, and urban design, the project restores biodiversity in a heavily developed area and sets an example for sustainable innovation in cities around the world.

12/03/2025

This commentary I wrote about Integrating Nature into Cities has been published today in Buildings and Cities:

'...A radical scaling up and rethinking of how we integrate nature into cities is needed, such that nature is not considered merely as a decorative element but as an integral part of the urban fabric, helping to address climate, ecological and social crises. To achieve this requires an approach that sees cities, and the people within them, as embedded within the broader natural systems they impact, not separate from them. What is missing from this fast-evolving nature-based discourse in academia and design is an understanding of, not only what needs to change technically, but also why humans must fundamentally shift their perspective regarding living within the planet’s ecological and climatic systems.... The current crises stem partly from viewing biodiversity and ecosystems as just resources for human use alone, rather than recognising their intrinsic value as part of a larger living network. The exploration of nature-based design must expand to include investigation and dialogue about what it means to work with nature and how such design can help repair and redefine human-nature relationships....'

Nature-based design, combined with the transformation of underlying worldviews, can enhance urban resilience.

11/09/2024

This out today - NUWAO researchers on the team.

It’s not enough to have parks in city outskirts or urban green belts. Green spaces must be accessible for residents and placed to provide effective flood protection for cities.

14/04/2024

Maibritt Pedersen Zari of NUWAO was asked to comment on Parsons School of Design Interior Design work from their MFA Programme. Take a look at this inspiring project by Shreya Dwivedi Shreya Dee

Comment from us for Sherya: 'We, as part of the research project NUWAO - Nature-based Urban design for Wellbeing and Adaptation in Oceania, are looking into how working with nature can be driven by localised thinking and unique relationships to the living world we are in as a means to adapt to climate change. Your work investigating how you might turn your foraged materials into building systems that have an ecological function seems promising and we'd love to learn more about that. That will take the search for a localised identity beyond just an aesthetic concern and into something that perhaps actively connects people back to place through local materials. Are you looking into traditional stories about these plants, or 'materials', or uses for them? Could you investigate vernacular forms perhaps that worked with these materials? This might help to establish deeper meaning and extend a new (or remembered) localism of materiality extending from now into the past and potentially the future too. One of my favourite things to do is look at how seaw**d moves with waves in and out of rock pools or crevasses in the rocks. It is very hypnotic. I wonder if tracing the movements of your foragings or the materials themselves - lichen in the wind, w**d in the waters for example, might help to spatialise your ideas further, so we see these foraged materials not just as an interior material or system, but also a set of interior movements that define space. Good luck with the project!
Dr Maibritt Pedersen Zari, Associate Professor in Regenerative Architecture, Auckland University of Technology, Aotearoa New Zealand.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5lWvCUuVTy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

03/08/2023

I feel very privileged and humbled to have been interviewed about NUWAO for the linked podcasts 'The Native Seed Pod' and 'Learning from Nature' this morning alongside Dr PennElys Droz (Anishinaabe/Wyandot).

Check out the project she is involved in: NDN collective, an Indigenous-led organization out of the USA that through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change, creates sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.

Such good conversations! should be out in November I think.

What if the best times are ahead of us?Despite the heatwaves, power outages, droughts and floods, this is a question our NDN Climate Justice team is unafraid...

01/08/2023

Our new paper out now led by Maria Rodgers, with Ocean Mercier, and Becky Kiddle: Plants of place: justice through (re)planting Aotearoa New Zealand’s urban natural heritage:

Climate change has led to urgent calls for environmental action and justice, which is likely to include increased urban vegetation. The benefits of this planting could go beyond ecological and climate benefits to....

31/07/2023

Great video here from Katharina Hecht. Very happy to have connected with her and BioSEA in Singapore.

"Did you know green walls provide valuable ecosystem services? Are you curious about how ecosystem services are measured and quantified? Have you ever heard ...

25/07/2023