Urban Wildlife
// ABSTRACT
The rapid expansion of urban areas into global biodiversity hotspots has exacerbated the conflict between urban development and biodiversity conservation. This tension poses a critical challenge for future conservation efforts in the "Urban Millennium." Urban rewilding has emerged as a promising strategy to reconcile this conflict by re-establishing the values and symbiotic relationships of biodiversity within urban spaces. Our project, "Urban Rewilding," focuses on addressing the needs of urban wildlife through ecological insights derived from Epping Forest's use of deadwood. By leveraging computational design and artificial intelligence, this project seeks to restore, protect, and enhance urban biodiversity and the food chain, thereby creating post-nature habitats that offer innovative perspectives on urban ecosystem rewilding.
In response to the above, our research explores methods for integrating wildlife into urban design from a non-human and nature perspective. Focusing on a site located between the city and Epping Forest, we aim to develop strategies that support urban wildlife and enhance biodiversity, ultimately proposing new paradigms for sustainable urban development. From a macro perspective, our design employs parametric methods to process data on various aspects of urban wildlife, including habitats and activity trails. Leveraging AI, we envision a post-urban morphology characterized by well-connected and diverse green spaces. In the detailed design phase, we propose a post-nature infrastructure based on the concept of "deadhedges." This infrastructure, constructed from dead branches, creates multi-level, multi-size, and multifunctional ecological spaces that accommodate a variety of species. Grounded in the principles of deadhedges, this infrastructure aims to gradually stabilize and reinforce the food chain from the bottom up throughout its entire life cycle.
// 01 WILDLIFE ENTERING THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT
As global urbanisation continues to intensify, the range of human activities is expanding, gradually encroaching on the original habitats of wildlife. As a result, some wild animals with high adaptive capacity began to frequent cities and adjusted their behavioural patterns according to the characteristics of urban environments. For example, these animals have found new nesting locations in cities, changed their food choices, and even displayed behavioural characteristics that are very different from those of rural wildlife. However, current urban design is still largely centred on human needs, with little consideration for the survival needs of wildlife.
Urban wildlife are often seen as disruptive to human life while adapting to the urban environment, while the city's infrastructure may also pose a threat to them. Given that these animals have the same right to exist on this planet as humans, we set out to pre-research this phenomenon in order to explore how we can better incorporate wildlife considerations into urban planning and achieve a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
Owl
Crows Water Scorpion
Silver Gull
Pigeon Rabbit
Brown Rat Grey Squirrel Swift
Dragonfly Earthworm
Tit Garden Spider Common lizard Watermeasurer Nuthatch
Adder Badger Bank-Vole Beaver Blue tit Brown hare Buzzard Common Frog
Skylark Sand Lizard Roe Deer Red Squirrel Pygmy Shrew Pochard Yellowmouse Pine-marten
Bluetail Froghopper Piedwagtail Paraketts Moth Mallard
Sparrow Black Redstart Chiroptera Bat
Woodenpigeon Falco Peregrinus Hedgehog
Stage Beetle Butterfly Mining Bee
European Serin Goldfinch Gorse Shieldbug Grass Snake Grasshopper Grey Wagtail
Hairy Shieldbug
Treehopper
leafhopper
Magpie
Common rat Shrew Commontoad Cormorant Dunnock Eyptiangoose Eider Emperogoose
Palmate Newt Chaffinch Marshfrog Little owl Linnet
Golden Plover Goldpheasant Garganey
Gadwall
Partridge
Firecrest
Fieldfare
Field Vole
Field Mouse
Falcatedduck
Euro Otter
Urban Wild-Life in London (Come from Wild Land)
Common Species in City
Endangered Speices
// 02 SITE ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENT
Epping Forest 51.657078°N, 0.041282°E
Epping Forest, located in the southeast of England on the northeastern edge of London, is an ancient forest covering over 6,000 acres. This ancient royal forest is renowned for its rich biodiversity, historical sites, and as an important leisure and recreational area. Epping Forest offers a natural sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of the city, with a diverse range of flora and fauna, including rare plants, birds, and insects.
Epping Forest features numerous dead wood hedges. Selecting it as our site enables us to closely study this ecological restoration technique and its surrounding environmental correlations.
Green spaces
Border towards the city
Border towards the forest
Green spaces
Biodiversity level
Biodiversity level
Intraspecific competition Intraspecific competition Intraspecific competition
From Decay to Diversity
Dead Hedges and Their Inhabitants
Dead hedges provide hiding places and nesting habitats for all sorts of creatures. Dead wood is associated with its very own set of species of invertebrates numbering into the hundreds and woodpeckers, nuthatches and treecreepers feed on them in standing trees.
The decay process of dead hedges is mainly done by tiny animals, fungi, and bacteria. Creatures like slugs and beetles eat the decaying matter, attracting hedgehogs, birds, frogs, and toads. The heat from decomposition also attracts reptiles like lizards, slow-worms.
// 03 URBAN EXPANSION
In recent decades, cities have been expanding irresistibly and gradually. As a result, the green area, wildlife habitat has been severely compressed. Our objective is to gather the current satellite map of the city as dataset, train the AI model, and use the fine-tuned model to predict the future urban morphology after the completion of the expansion, and analyses base on the Ai imagination.
// 04 ACTIVITY RANGE OF URBAN WILDLIFE
Through carrying out a large-scale remapping of the urban fabric, our perspective was further focussed on the remote southern part of Epping Forest, a decision based on a combination of ecological and urban layout considerations for the area. Based on the analyses of animal species characteritics, we predict and classify their possible movements areas.
The classification divides animals into three main categories based on the size of their ranges and their habits: firstly, animals with large ranges, such as foxes, which require large spaces for foraging, breeding and roosting; secondly, animals that move mainly in the sky, such as pigeons, whose living and migratory patterns require us to take into account the vertical dimension of the city's space and provide suitable habitats and safe flight paths; and lastly, animals with relatively small ranges of activity, such as butterflies, which are more dependent on specific plants as a source of food and a place for oviposition.
Piegon
Peregrinus
satellite image Green Area Boiversity's Richest Realms
Class 03:Paths of Small Range Animals
Class 02: Paths of Aerial Animals
Class 01: Paths of Paths of Ground-Dwelling Animals
// 05 Reorganisation of Urban Morphology
With the scope and path of different animal activities, we can accurately determine which areas need to be intervened and improved through design. By calculating different degrees of green connectivity under AI intervention, we select an urban morphology mapwith the highest degree of green connectivity, and use AI to re-plan and re-layout these key areas using dead hedge, which will not only provide more suitable habitats and activity paths for the animals, but also make effective use of the space and increase the coverage of green vegetation, which will promote the growth of biodiversity and ecosystem Stability.
The design concept of the intervention of dead hedge aims to create multi-level and multi-functional ecological space to provide various environmental conditions for different kinds of animals to live, reproduce and migrate.
Data sets of farmland
Data sets of woodland Data sets of heathland
Data sets of wetland
Data sets of garden
Data sets of park
// 06 STRUCTURE MORPHOLOGY
Through the deformation and innovative design of dead hedge forms, a structural form with unique voids and holes can be constructed. This design not only increases the sense of visual and spatial hierarchy, but also creates spatial gaps of different sizes and shapes in these structures, thus providing diverse living environments for different kinds of animals. This design idea promotes biodiversity and creates a more harmonious connection between the urban and natural environments. In this structure, the larger spaces provide habitats for animals that need more space to move around, such as birds and small mammals, while the smaller gaps cater for small insects and reptiles, creating an eco-friendly and multi-functional environment.
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AI IMAGINATION_DECOMPOSITION OF DEADWOOD
01.Stacking of Dead Wood:
This dead wood can provide habitat for small animals such as insects, birds, and small mammals.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.2>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.1),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:0.3),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.2),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:2),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:2),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:2.5),( structure have Holes and Cracks:2) --Negative prompt: human,
02.Involvement of Microorganisms:
In addition to fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms also participate in the decomposition of the wood. These microorganisms further break down the wood tissue, releasing nutrients.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.3),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:0.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :0.7),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:1.5),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:1.4),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:1.3), --Negative prompt: human,blur,
03.Physical and Chemical Processes:
Over time, the dead wood gradually breaks down under physical and chemical actions, such as changes in temperature and humidity.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.4>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:0.8),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.6),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:2),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:2),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:2),( structure have Holes and Cracks:2) --Negative prompt: human,
04.Transformation of Organic
Matter: During the decomposition process, the organic matter in the wood is gradually transformed into humus, a nutrient-rich organic material that can support the biological activity of the surrounding soil.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.6),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:2),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:2),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:2),( structure have Holes and Cracks:2) --Negative prompt: human,
05.Action of Mycelium:
The wood in the dead hedge begins to be invaded by fungi, especially various saprophytic fungi. These fungi's mycelium penetrate the wood fibers, breaking down the cellulose and lignin in the wood.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.2>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.3),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:0.8),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.2),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:2.5),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:1.5),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:2),( structure have Holes and Cracks:1) --Negative prompt: human,green,(blur:0.3),
06.Soil Formation:
Eventually, these decomposed materials mix into the soil, improving soil structure, and increasing the organic content of the soil, thus helping plant growth.
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.2>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.1),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:0.3),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.2),(wood hedge:1.5),(wood becomes softer and easier to peel or break:2),(Volume and Weight of structure Reduction:2),(wood to turn brown or dark brown:2.5),( structure have Holes and Cracks:2) --Negative prompt: human,
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.2),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,
Negative prompt: human,Steps: 39, Sampler: DPM++ 2M, Schedule type: Karras, CFG scale: 7, Seed: 1354751321, Size: 1536x864, Model hash: e1441589a6, Model: sd-v1.5, VAE hash: f921fb3f29, VAE: animevae.pt, Denoising strength: 0.88, Clip skip: 2, ControlNet 0: "Module: depth_midas, Model: control_v11f1p_sd15_depth [cfd03158], Weight: 0.55, Resize Mode: Crop and Resize, Low Vram: False, Processor Res: 512, Guidance Start: 0, Guidance End: 0.78, Pixel Perfect: False,
"Module: depth_midas, Model: control_v11f1p_sd15_depth [cfd03158], Weight: 0.55, Resize Mode: Crop and Resize, Low Vram: False, Processor Res: 512, Guidance Start: 0, Guidance End: 0.78, Pixel Perfect: False, Control Mode: Balanced, Hr Option: Both, Save Detected Map: True", Lora hashes: "Mycelium: 56418a48cc2c",
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants and mycelium :1.6),
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.5>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.3>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.3>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,(The structure is composed of rattan
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.3>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.3>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the
Futuristic architecture concept emulating the structure of rattan and dead wood woven by crawling plants serving as the main support structures and roots deeply embedded in the ground,<lora:Mycelium:0.3>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:0.6),(green moss and grass and fungi attaches to the structure:1.5),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.5),(structure on the ground:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.4),clear background,
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.9>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.2),(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.3),<lora:add_detail:0.8>,(structure on the ground:1.2),(animals:1.3), (insects:1.1),(high biodiversity:1.4),complex background,(wooden structure:0.8),(root:1.2)
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.6>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.3),<lora:add_detail:0.8>,(structure on the ground:1.2),(animals:1.3),(insects:1.1),(high biodiversity:1.4),complex background,(wooden structure:0.8),(root:1.1)
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.8>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.2),(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.1),<lora:add_detail:0.6>,(structure on the ground:1.2),(animals:1.3),(high biodiversity:1.4),complex background,(wooden structure:0.8),(root:1.2)
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.8>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.2),(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.1),<lora:add_detail:0.6>,(animals:1.2),(high biodiversity:1.1),complex background,(wooden structure:0.6),(root:1.2)
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.9>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,(mycelium attaches to the structure:1.1),(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.1),<lora:add_detail:0.6>,(structure on the ground:1.2),(animals:1.1),(high biodiversity:1.4),complex background,(wooden structure:0.8),(root:1.2)
prompt: <lora:Mycelium:0.7>,best quality,reality,organic structure,mycelium,mycelium attaches to the structure,(few green moss attaches to the structure:1.1),(kinds of wildlife live in the structure:1.1),<lora:add_detail:0.6>,(structure on the ground:1.2),(animals:1.1),(high biodiversity:1.2),complex background,(wooden structure:0.8),(root:1.2)
Type_01
Type_03
Type_02
Type_04
Phase 1:Stacking of Dead Wood
// 07 SIMULATION & PHYSICAL MODEL
After exploring the morphology of the structure, we tried to progress a experiment with digital simulations. As a result, we found that the aggregate structure is able to maintain its structure without support.
Subsequently, we utilized laser cutting to produce our small-scale physical model and investigated various structural forms by varying parameters within individual units, spatial creation, and combining methods. Through exploring the relationship between parameters and structure, our goal is to project this relationship onto a full-scale aggregate structure, which consists of three deadwood elements merged into a single unit.
Structure Prototype : Branch Model
The 1:1 scale prototype explores a new form of aggregation, using branches as aggregate monolithic material. Large cavities are intentionally left within the structure to provide living spaces for urban wildlife. This structure, formed from a dead hedge, serves as a new type of urban infrastructure, continually contributing to the enhancement of biodiversity.
