Biodiversity preservation is often viewed in utilitarian terms that render non-human species as ecosystem services or natural resources. The economic capture approach may be inadequate in addressing biodiversity loss because extinction of some species could conceivably come to pass without jeopardizing the survival of the humans. People might be materially sustained by a technological biora made to yield services and products required for human life. The failure to address biodiversity loss calls for an exploration of alternative paradigms. It is proposed that the failure to address biodiversity loss stems from the fact that ecocentric value holders are politically marginalized and underrepresented in the most powerful strata of society. While anthropocentric concerns with environment and private expressions of biophilia are acceptable in the wider society, the more pronounced publicly expressed deep ecology position is discouraged. “Radical environmentalists” are among the least understood of all contemporary opposition movements, not only in tactical terms, but also ethically. The article argues in favor of the inclusion of deep ecology perspective as an alternative to the current anthropocentric paradigm. https://doi.org/10.1080/1943815X.2012.742914 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This paper examines how a serious game approach could support a participatory planning process by bringing stakeholders together to discuss interventions that assist the development of sustainable urban tourism. A serious policy game was designed and played in six European cities by a total of 73 participants, reflecting a diverse array of tourism stakeholders. By observing in-game experiences, a pre- and post -game survey and short interviews six months after playing the game, the process and impact of the game was investigated. While it proved difficult to evaluate the value of a serious game approach, results demonstrate that enacting real-life policymaking in a serious game setting can enable stakeholders to come together, and become more aware of the issues and complexities involved with urban tourism planning. This suggests a serious game can be used to stimulate the uptake of academic insights in a playful manner. However, it should be remembered that a game is a tool and does not, in itself, lead to inclusive participatory policymaking and more sustainable urban tourism planning. Consequently, care needs to be taken to ensure inclusiveness and prevent marginalization or disempowerment both within game-design and the political formation of a wider participatory planning approach.
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In this chapter we move back in time, to when it was not an usance to base our city designs on the natural systems of water and ecology. By the end of the 1980s the dogma of separation of functions, and dividing the city in areas for working, living, leisure and traffic was slowly abandoned and especially the focus on the traffic system, more in particular the car, was leading to uproar. In this timeframe an alternative to apply the principles of nature in urban design was very new and, in the beginning, needed to be conquered on the traditionalists who would pertain using their old-school design standards. In this chapter the development story of Westerpark, and Heilaar-Steenakker is presented. This area in the western outskirts of the city of Breda, in the south of the Netherlands, was one of the first, maybe even the first to use knowledge about the water system, ecological typologies and nature as the basis for urban planning. This article starts with a description in sections two and three of the policy context at national level to illustrate the momentum of change from rationalism towards ecological planning. In section four the policy context in Breda in the early nineties is presented as the context within which the planning of Heilaar-Steenakker (Sect. 8.5) and Westerpark (Sect. 8.6) could be based in a strong sense of the natural processes of ecology and water that formed the landscape in history.
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Urban open space has a huge impact on human health, well-being and urban ecosystems. One of the open spaces where the environmental and ecological challenges of cities manifest the most is the urban riverfront, often characterised by fragmented land use, lack of accessibility, heavy riverside vehicular traffic, and extreme degradation of river hydrology and ecology. More often than not, the current spatial design of the riverfront hinders rather than supports the delivery of ecosystem services and, in consequence, its potential to improve the health and well-being of urban inhabitants is diminished. Hence, the design of riverside open spaces is crucial. Urban and landscape design in those spaces requires instruments that can aid designers, planners, decision-makers and stakeholders in devising spatial interventions that integrate complex environmental and ecological goals in high quality public space design. By recognising the multiple environmental and ecological benefits of green space and water in the city, the project “I surf” applies a set of four design instruments, namely the Connector, the Sponge, the Integrator, and the Scaler. I surf is a three-phased project that tests, validates and updates these instruments through a design-driven research methodology involving two design workshops and expert meetings addressing three different riverside urban spaces in Amsterdam: in the Ij waterfront, along River Amstel, and on a site located on the canal network. The project concludes with an updated and transferrable instrument set available for urban and landscape design applications in Amsterdam and in other Dutch cities crossed by rivers.
In recent years there has been an increasing need for nature inclusive solutions in the construction sector. The practice asks for new solutions contributing to the development of sustainable, resilient and liveable cities. Under the guidance of the Dutch government, greening of the cities has become one of the aims of municipalities in the Netherlands and the focus of some emerging companies and design offices. In cities, quay masonry walls, thanks to their close contact with water, have the potential to be ecologically engineered to favour vegetation, thereby contributing to the renaturing of urban areas. By building a prototype of an innovative masonry building system, this project aims to investigate the potential for improving the integration between masonry quay walls and vegetation. The set-up consists of a dry-stacking system for brick masonry: strong polyamide elements interconnect the bricks, providing strength to the masonry without the need for mortar. The space in between bricks, traditionally filled with mortar, is to be filled with compost material, providing an ideal substrate for plant growth and a buffer for water storage (figure 1). In addition to improved integration between masonry walls and vegetation, the proposed dry-stacking system allows for easy reuse of bricks, thereby contributing to circularity and sustainability of the building industry. The project broadens and strengthens the national network in the field of urban ecology by bringing together expertise from the fields of architecture, ecology and the construction sector, from both academia and practice.
