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Biophilic Design and Restorative Architecture for Sustainable Urban Environments

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 746

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Mathematics, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Interests: architecture; artificial intelligence; biophilia; biophilic design; complexity; design; healing environments; patterns; resilience; sustainability; urbanism
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims to bridge the gap between the biophilic design and energy sustainability of cities. Thus far, research has underpinned technical paths to saving energy in urban generative processes; however, true sustainability depends principally upon users valuing their built environments enough to maintain them. The complex factors behind this attachment include biophilic design, in which people unconsciously feel to be part of an environment when it triggers positive-valence unconscious responses. Users accept this state as “belonging” to geometry and built spaces, a result that is not obtainable through usual technocratic design principles. Recent years have brought a wealth of medical data on exactly which environments are restorative; that is, beneficial to our health and wellbeing. While not yet incorporated into mainstream design or education, this new knowledge lays the foundation for how humankind will build in the future—if it is interested in survival. The Special Issue will therefore link previous studies on sustainability to the emotional attachment of human beings with geometry through the evolutionary mechanisms that shape our biology. This crucial aspect of sustainability is currently being neglected in the existing literature.

Prof. Dr. Nikos Salingaros
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biophilia
  • biophilic design
  • resilience
  • restorative environments
  • sustainability

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2659 KiB  
Article
Cooling Effects and Human Comfort of Constructed Wetlands in Desert Cities: A Case Study of Avondale, Arizona
by Anthony Brazel, Victor Ruiz-Aviles, Bjoern Hagen, Jonathan M. Davis and David Pijawka
Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5456; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135456 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 350
Abstract
Heat continues to be a hazard in the desert southwestern USA. This study presents the results of a preliminary microclimate field survey in two Avondale, Arizona, neighborhoods developed with artificial wastewater-treatment wetlands and one adjacent desert neighborhood. The preliminary field study reported here [...] Read more.
Heat continues to be a hazard in the desert southwestern USA. This study presents the results of a preliminary microclimate field survey in two Avondale, Arizona, neighborhoods developed with artificial wastewater-treatment wetlands and one adjacent desert neighborhood. The preliminary field study reported here measured morning, near-noon, and afternoon air temperatures and, together with other observed variables, calculated mean radiant temperatures (critical to human comfort) at 28 locations across three neighborhoods on a sample day in September of 2018. The aim was to determine cooling effects of blue/green environments and identify benefits for residents. Overall results for September indicate 1–3 °C cooling, which is understandable for this time of year at summer’s end. Mean radiant temperature results are substantially different at lake sites versus dry neighborhood sites (by some 5–20 °C), likely due to the presence of fewer lateral radiant fluxes and cooler exposures at lake sites compared with dry neighborhoods. Cooling benefits likely provide year-round outdoor comfort compared to desert-landscaped communities. The authors reinforce the conclusion that recycled water and treatment systems can reduce local heat island conditions and aid in combating extreme heat in the desert southwest. This study also shows that constructed wastewater-treatment wetlands in desert cities support sustainable residential developments. Full article
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