Eco-Positive Design: Moving Beyond Ecological Restoration
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Dr Janis Birkeland Earth & Environment ︱ Dr Birkeland, with co-authors Birte Christina Renger and David J. Midmore, discuss the positive role buildings could play in carbon sequestration. Buildings are currently a major CO2 source but the usual approach is to compensate Eco-positive design: for the emissions from a building’s Moving beyond ecological restoration operation, and not the emissions used in resource extraction and construction. They show quantitatively that, with a With a background in art, ities and buildings have greatly CHANGING OUR BUILT different approach to design, buildings architecture, planning and law, improved human life but at a ENVIRONMENTS could sequester more CO2 than they Dr Janis Birkeland from the C huge cost to the planet around Dr Birkeland has long advocated changing emit over their full lifecycle (Renger et al., University of Melbourne is well us. We have decimated the very thing the way we think about sustainability and 2015). By designing buildings to support positioned to understand and that ultimately sustains us – nature ecological design. What is now called substantial and permanent planting, address the current obstacles itself. According to the World Wildlife ‘sustainable development’ only aims to carbon amortization can be achieved to sustainability. As the Fund, for example, 50% of the earth’s improve upon best practice – which is far far earlier in the building’s lifecycle originator of net-positive design biodiversity has been lost in 50 years from ecologically and socially sustainable. compared to using only renewable energy and development or ‘Positive (WWF, 2018). At its core, Positive Each construction project diminishes the systems. They propose a simple tool Development can be one with the natural landscape. Development’ theory, Professor Development theory, set out by Dr earth’s life support systems. Dr Birkeland to assess performance. Birkeland believes that cities, Birkeland in her 2008 book, posits that attributes our failure to aim beyond ‘do buildings and infrastructure, the built environment can create a positive no harm’ to ‘closed-system’ thinking It is crucial that buildings compensate Positive Development proposes fixed the ‘built environment’, could relationship between natural and human which limits our perspective to reduction, for the ecological damage caused by past become sustainability solutions. systems – moving beyond the goal of recycling and restoration. “Despite more development – which they suggest is only baselines to measure progress in lieu However, different systems of ‘minimum negative impact’ to buildings positive rhetoric, sustainable urbanism still possible if ecology becomes an intrinsic of current practices. urban governance, planning that increase net benefits for both nature aims to enhance the good and mitigate part of a building’s design and assessment. and design are needed if and society. The idea that buildings and the bad—not to increase the life support Dr Birkeland introduced the idea that can be modified for many different island effect, air quality etc.). Positive buildings are to measurably cities could give back more than they take system” (Birkeland, 2012). buildings could be designed to support contexts, functions and aesthetics. Development outlines new analyses to “give back more than they is now gaining currency, but this has not ecosystem functions and services identify and design for sustainability gaps take” to nature and society. been matched by the uptake of ‘eco- To reverse the devastating effect that (Birkeland, 2002). Building-integrated Dr Birkeland argues that each new in the area. Big data analytics will allow Her mission has been to define these changes. positive’ standards, methods and tools our current form of development has ecosystems can provide for the production construction should address social more comprehensive planning analyses, that can make this a reality. had on the planet, future generations of clean air, water, soil and many other and economic deficiencies in the but the issues that are now considered and the less fortunate among us, we need public benefits of natural systems, surrounding area and make positive and mapped must be expanded. to move from decision-based to design- while improving life quality and amenity environmental and community Net-positive sustainability will require a based thinking. The influence of decision (Birkeland, 2009). For example, take contributions. However, many wholesale shift in the way the construction theory in urban planning and design ‘green scaffolding’ – structures constructed sustainability issues are not yet considered industry, city councils and designers think. has limited us to choosing between poor around, between or inside existing in planning analyses, design guidelines or options with negative, or at best neutral, buildings that support carefully-selected the assessment of the social and economic BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING ramifications. Choosing the lesser of micro-habitats, ecosystem services criteria (which cover everything from ‘Offsetting’ is a term that is becoming two evils doesn’t cancel out the long- and biodiversity. There is no simple one- community engagement to stakeholder more widespread – the idea of using one term cumulative negative outcomes. size-fits-all approach. Each building is as participation, recreational value, health (positive) action to compensate for another Design-based approaches can create unique as its setting. However, adaptable and well-being etc.), and environmental (negative). A common example is where more positive options with multiple design ideas such as green scaffolding criteria (which include microclimate, heat airline companies allow you to pay extra benefits. Further, existing social and ecological problems are not effectively Net Positive Development (2008) weighted and addressed: we measure CC BY-SA 2.0 The creation A representation of the idea of expanding the ecological base and public of positive synergies estate to create surplus eco-services and public amenity. the wrong things in the wrong ways. between urban and Positive Development is a revolutionary regional or ‘rurban’ areas Net positive Green represents the ecological base, or total stock of natural capital way of designing the built environment Design for Ecological development - an (energy, healthy soil, water, air, biota, etc) and ecosystem goods and services eco-services (urban) restoration (rural) increase in the (production and absorption functions), biodiversity, ecological health and to create truly symbiotic outcomes ecological base resilience, bio-security, etc). It is the life-support system and means of survival. for the ecology and the community. Natural capital White arrows represents the reduction of the resource stocks and flows and Existing Greening built Eco-productive eco-services eco-services are (ecological base) in urban and rural development. While partly driven by environment farming, NET-POSITIVE BUILDINGS forestry, being eroded despite population, the design of production and construction systems can make a People are beginning to look more etc. mitigation measures bigger difference to sustainability than even population reduction. In other words, people in some regions consume hundreds of times more resources and more at architecture as a way to drive than people in other regions. Impacts of the Impacts of industrial changes toward social, economic and built environment agriculture, fishing, Ecologically responsible practices (eco-efficient production, farming, environmental sustainability. However, forestry, etc. forestry, green building, ‘responsible’ mining, etc) can mitigate the impacts the methods to assess the impact of these Population-related issues of development (rep-resented by downward arrows). Design for eco-services can actually increase the ecological base, public estate and carrying capacity design strategies are flawed – measuring (represented by upward arrows) or the ‘roof’ of the new structure. Picture credit: Rory Hyde, Flickr. Originally published under negative and up to zero but not beyond. www.researchfeatures.com changes to cities to reduce the impacts of natural disasters (fire,fl oods, cyclones, earthquakes, etc.), provide ‘direct’ access Behind the Research to basic needs, or address social problems CC BY-SA 2.0 such as economic and racial segregation. The other proposes urban biodiversity Dr Janis Birkeland credits for development, but these would not increase net ecological E: [email protected] T: +61 042 608 6559 carrying capacity or alter the nature of buildings. They assume that ‘leaving things better than you find it’ is good References enough. Instead of measuring the distance Research Objectives from current unsustainable conditions Birkeland, J. (2018). Challenging policy barriers in sustainable Dr Birkeland critiques ‘sustainable development’ concepts and practices, Positive Development development. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, and tools as being about incremental improvements on a measures the distance to sustainability. 40(40), 41–56. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2018-0013 failed model of development. She outlines the necessary It proposes various fixed baselines to changes in systems of planning, decision making and design Janis Birkeland & Stephen Knight-Lenihan (2016). Biodiversity to enable net-positive outcomes. measure progress, such as pre-industrial offsetting and net positive design. Journal of Urban Design, Picture credit: Rory