WHAT
Ph.D. project within Circular Built Environment
WHO
Industrial Ph.D.
WITH
Udviklingssselskabet By og Havn I/S,
Royal Danish Academy– Architecture, Design, Conservation
RESUMÉ
In my Industrial Ph.D., I study how nature-based ideas integrate in the urban development of today, and I identify some of the main drivers, paradoxes, consequences, and challenges, related to these integrations. The project focus is urban development inspired by nature’s ability to regenerate, through the unfolding of ideas relating to biomimicry, biodiversity, and biophilia. A part of the project is to study where some of these key ideas come from – tracking selected ideas back to the 18th century. The project’s underlying thesis is that current development potentials within the field of sustainability and urban design can be identified by uncovering how present ideas have evolved, and how selected ideas are (or are not) being unfolded in today’s scientific theory, urban strategy, and practice. The ambition is to develop theories and initiatives to help urban stakeholders better understand and integrate nature-based ideas in urban development. The project includes prototyping a dialogue tool and asking if it might supplement the international certification tool DGNB Urban Districts, being also used in Denmark. Methods are based on action research and design theory. Data collection includes a deep qualitative case study of urban strategy and planning/design/building practice in Copenhagen, as well as observations and interviews conducted during a research stay in New Zealand.
