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context of these organisms, such innovations can too easily become simple tech-
nological add-ons to conventional buildings. These could fall into the category of
'green-wash', if buildings remain average in terms of overall sustainability per-
formance over whole lifecycles. Such solutions also miss an opportunity
to examine the possibility of systemic change in the built environment and to
re-evaluate the nature of the relationship between people, their built environment
the ecosystems they exist in.
While existing technologies and techniques will be crucial in the short and
medium terms, biomimicry could form an important part of long-term solutions to
climate change and biodiversity loss. Biomimicry could be useful as part of
strategies designed to replace the use of fossil fuels, to develop technologies or
techniques to address direct climate change impacts on the built environment and
in the systemic improvement of the built environment using ecosystem biomim-
icry. Technologies that increase energy efficiencies and can sequester or store
carbon may form part of an important short to medium-term approach, but should
be seen as intermediate steps. As well as a reduced or potentially negative carbon
footprint for the built environment, examples of biomimetic technologies reveal
approaches that use current excess CO 2 as a resource for new materials. Biomi-
metic technologies that address direct climate change impacts and biomimetic
technologies or systems that prevent further GHG emissions have also been
examined and could be implemented alongside wider systemic change in the built
environment (including a consideration of people's consumption behaviour and
lifestyle expectations).
The case studies examined in this chapter suggest that ecosystem biomimicry
may be the most effective kind of biomimicry to respond to climate change
impacts and utilise synergies between mitigation and adaptation strategies. This is
also the least explored aspect of biomimicry in-built form. Positive integration
with ecosystems leading to a regenerative rather than damaging effect on them
may contribute to maintaining biodiversity and the ecosystem services that humans
are dependent upon for survival, particularly as the climate continues to change.
Such a concept goes beyond encouraging a basic understanding of ecological
processes over time, as is increasingly advocated in recent publications and in
educational institutions. Instead it is the thorough integration of ecological
knowledge into architecture and urban design to alter how buildings function
fundamentally in relation to ecosystems and to each other. Buildings should be
expected to become active contributors to ecosystems and social systems, rather
than remaining unresponsive agents of ecosystem degeneration.
Acknowledgments This research is based in part on earlier published paper: M. Pedersen Zari
( 2010 ), Biomimetic design for climate change adaptation and mitigation, Architectural Science
Review, 53(2), pp. 172-183. It is revised, expanded and updated.
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