Exploring Regenerative Co-benefits of Biophilic Design for People and the Environment

There is an increasing awareness of the role that buildings, districts and neighbourhoods play on health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that coincides with pressing climate concerns. This has renewed attention to the benefits of nature for both human and climate health. Buildings, cities, and regions are attempting to align regenerative design principles with human health goals but often lack the tools and knowledge to do so. This is partly rooted in a failure to understand how to apply research and policy for different contexts as well as at different scales. It is also still uncertain exactly what types of nature can lead to which types of benefit, and for whom, despite long-standing research within the environmental psychology, sustainability, and design fields. This chapter outlines key research paradigms that influence the way we understand the benefits of nature, where biophilic design theory sits in this field, and how it can be and has been applied at different scales through two case studies at the building and city scale. The chapter ends with the proposal of new directions for integrating biophilic design into regenerative design and policy.