LEAD
FALL 2019
This is the second article in a series of three entitled The Foundations of Biophilia. To read the series overview and first article, Nature Immersion, see the Spring 2019 issue of Love + Regeneration.
Biophilia and Nature Relationship When reviewing the literature on Biophilic Design, I have often found it interesting that having a relationship with other species is missing from the conversation. Nature is always described in the abstract as something to be exposed to, but no attention has been paid to a much deeper level of contact between ourselves and other forms of life in this emerging field. I believe this to be a huge oversight and one that discounts the most direct benefits that can occur from a focus on biophilia in design. It is my belief that one of the most important aspects of biophilic design is allowing for the cultivation of relationship with nature—a very critical type of interaction with the natural world, distinct from nature immersion explored previously in this series. I believe we have an inherent need to live in relationship with life in order to be holistically—psychologically and physically—well. Exposure to nature and various life forms has its own positive effect as discussed in the last article, but here I’m delving deeper, exploring what it means to develop a deeply felt relationship, sense, and knowledge of a particular entity within a particular place. People undoubtedly have close relationships with animals; I believe they can also have relationships with specific
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plants, insects, and other life forms, ultimately forming familial or friendship bonds that elicit emotional responses that are positive and knowable. Over time, this kind of highly personal and individual connection can also extend to a specific place—one’s home or another location that holds special emotional and relational significance and personal meaning. This article explores two important areas of inquiry: relationship with specific life forms and relationships with specific places. It goes on to examine their benefits and ultimately looks at the richness of opportunities to meaningfully allow for and reference nature relationships in biophilic design. Researchers have distilled what I’m talking about when I say “nature relationship” into two distinct categories; nature connectedness describes the extent to which individuals include nature as part of their identity1, and place attachment describes the personto-place bonds that evolve through emotional connection, meaning, and understanding of a specific place.2 I believe deep nature connectedness can be attributed to a sum of specific personal relationships with life that form a concentration of experiences unique to the place we associate as being home.
