Cities currently host more than half of the world population, which is projected to increase up to 70% by 2050. With the expected population growth, cities will hence be the source of an estimated 85% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is a growing recognition and awareness that nature can help to provide viable solutions by using and deploying the properties of natural ecosystems and the services that they provide in a smart and “engineered” way.
Working with nature, rather than against it, can further pave the way towards a more resource efficient, competitive, and greener economy. But, why are nature-based solutions not used more often to address the current global urban challenges? One of the main reasons is the lack of interconnectedness and cooperation between the biology and biotechnology sectors with design, industry, and entrepreneurship experts. Furthermore, the funding for the much necessary disruptive and visionary startups is highly fragmented and it is not sufficient to develop sound biotechnology solutions.
Building Urban Intelligent Living Design Solutions (BUILD Solutions, a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union) aims to give response to this challenge. BUILD Solutions sets up a transdisciplinary cooperation among universities and businesses by engaging students, teachers, and researchers of different disciplines and provides them with the necessary entrepreneurial skills and interconnections to bring intelligent living solutions to the market, investigating biological systems, creating prototypes based on information technology and digital manufacturing, business plans and working with accelerators. These solutions in turn can help us overcome the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation.
Chiara Farinea is Head of European Projects and Head of Building with Nature Based Solutions Research at the Advanced Architecture Group Department at IAAC. She is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture of Genoa. She has been a Project Manager at D’Appolonia (Genoa), Project Manager/Senior Architect at Open Building Research architectural office in Genoa, and a Junior Architect at KSP Engel und Zimmermann architectural office in Berlin. Her work has been exhibited in several international exhibitions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Tallinn Architecture Biennale.
Raquel Villodres has extensive experience working in the international and diplomatic fields as a researcher and project manager, including several years at the United Nations and doing fieldwork in India and Ghana. She was project manager at the Advanced Architecture Group of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS).
Maria Teresa Guevara is a specialist on scientific and technological communication and education, and has served as Director of the ERSILIA Foundation since 2004. She is responsible for dissemination and interdisciplinary training schools of INTREPID Cost Action and communication and dissemination of RELOCAL (H2020) and ET2050 (ESPON) projects.
Cite This Paper
Farinea, Chiara, et al. “Building Urban Intelligent Living Design.” Arts Imagining Communities to Come, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 8-11 November 2021. Cumulus Association, 2022. Accessed [month, day, year].