CNR ExploRA

Contributo in volume, 2023, ENG, 10.1007/978-3-031-29466-2_1

Towards the Development of a Conceptual Framework of BioCities

Vicente Guallart, Michael Salka, Daniel Ibañez, Fabio Salbitano, Silvano Fares, Arne Sæbo, Stefano Boeri, Livia Shamir, Lucrezia De Marco, Sofia Paoli, Maria Chiara Pastore, Jerylee Wilkes-Allemann, Evelyn Coleman Brantschen & Ivana ?ivojinovi?

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona, Spain; University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy; Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Ås, Norway; Stefano Boeri Architetti (SBA), Milan, Italy; Politecnico of Milan (PoliMi), Milan, Italy; Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Bern, Switzerland; National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, Naples, Italy.

This introductory chapter will evaluate how we have reached the current point in the history of world urbanity, its relationship with nature, and why a fusion between the two is now necessary. In order to define BioCities as cities which follow the principles of natural ecosystems to promote life, we will refer to the extensive knowledge of the history of urban science, the need for cities to be reinvented based on ecological principles, and new methods of analysing and measuring reality through digital systems. This vision of the main functions and traits of BioCities will also serve as a thread and reference for the subsequent chapters which will highlight and elaborate on the different properties of the BioCity vision. The final chapter will draw from this vision the constituting principles of the BioCity and will outline possible pathways of transition towards BioCities.