The thesis mainly uses three methods to do the research and analysis, Biomimicry (refer to chapter three), Urban Design (refer to chapter four), and Sustainable Development Goals (refer to the projects in chapter three and four and the thematic research in chapter five). Chapter two intends to introduce the basic knowledge of the methods that will help understanding the projects and research in chapter three to five.
Biomimicry Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. (Biomimicry Institute 3.8 website) The species have survived 3.8 billion years of trial and error, testing and selection. This tells us that there must be some strong strategies for survival embedded. Moreover, the R&D cycles are slow, but climate change won’t wait – it is necessary to investigate the biological blueprints that have been successful over millennia to launch ground-breaking ideas, faster. There is a need to reinvent the strategies that are already here. Human only need to learn how to adapt the design strategies. It is a method of looking to nature for inspiration to solve design problems in a regenerative way. The projects in chapter three mainly did the analyses and designs based on biomimicry processes.
Biomimicry Thinking Process Biomimicry thinking process (Figure2.1) is a collection of diagrams that visually represent the foundations of the design approach. It is a
Figure 2.1 (a)Biomimicry thinking process. (b) Biology to design process. (c) Challenge to biology process Biomimicry Thinking provides context to where, how, what, and why biomimicry fits into the process of any discipline or any scale of design. While akin to a methodology, Biomimicry Thinking is a framework that is intended to help people practice biomimicry while designing anything. There are four areas in which a biomimicry lens provides the greatest value to the design process (independent of the discipline in which it is integrated): scoping, discovering, creating, and evaluating. Following the specific steps within each phase helps ensure the successful integration of life’s strategies into human designs. Source: Biomimicry 3.8 (2015)
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