Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ecosystem services from the study of ecology (Alcamo et al.
2003
; Daily et al.
2000
; de Groot et al.
2002
). Ecosystem services are fundamental to human sur-
vival. Mimicking the functions of ecosystems enables design teams to know what
the quantifiable ecological goals should be for a development in a given location
and climate if it is to integrate with existing ecosystems and contribute to health
rather than deplete it. Previous research by the author focused on ascertaining
which ecosystem services were most applicable to a built environment context. For
the sake of brevity, only the results are reproduced here (Table
4.4
), however
methodology, sources and justifications can be found in: Pedersen Zari (
2012
).
Daily (
1997
) provides scientific details of each function. It is commonly known
that the built environment has a large negative effect on these ecosystem services
(Graham
2003
). One way to reduce this is to create built environments that mimic
or provide these ecosystem services and therefore reduce pressure on ecosystems,
as the urban environment grows and as the climate continues to change.
This list given in Table
4.4
suggests that in a similar way to the functioning of
an ecosystem, a building or development could be designed to form a system, or be
part of a system that: produces food; produces renewable energy; produces raw
materials for the future built environment; collects and purifies water; purifies air
and soil; regulates climate through mitigating GHG emissions and the heat island
effect; contributes to soil formation and fertility through careful cycling of bio-
degradable wastes and recycling of non-biodegradable wastes; and deliberately
provides habitat for species suitable for co-inhabitation with humans in the urban
built environment. Such new ecologically regenerative developments in turn could
act as filters (mechanisms that purify air and water), producers (of food and
materials) and generators (of energy) for the rest of the built environment which is
still degrading ecosystems and is likely to persist for at least another 50-90 years
(O'Connell and Hargreaves
2004
). If these regenerative nodes became part of the
built environment and start to perform even small aspects of ecosystem functions,
it is possible that built environment caused climate change would be to some
extent mitigated, and at the same time the built environment could become more
adaptable to climate change, while creating beneficial biodiversity outcomes
(Pedersen Zari
2012
).
Similar ideas are discussed by proponents of eco-effectiveness (McDonough
and Braungart
2002
). The difference between those concepts and the ecosystem
biomimicry proposed here is that the measurable targets such as emissions levels,
carbon storage, water catchment, energy production and resource production, are
determined through an understanding of suitable ecosystems or the pre-develop-
ment ecosystem of the site, and thus are based on ecological reality, rather than
human political needs or trends. A benefit of mimicking the functions of eco-
systems is that, through careful urban planning and an integrated and multidisci-
plinary design method, buildings as part of a larger system, able to mimic
ecosystem processes and/or functions in their creation, use, and eventual end of
life, may have the potential to adapt more readily to climate change. Whole system
adaptation of built environments using an understanding of ecosystems may have
the
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