Some aspects of sustainable urban planning using environmental solutions

The ecological aspect of urbanization is reflected in the fact that cities are increasingly concentrating all types of environmental pollution, which become serious problems of the deteriorating of people living conditions. In the Future megalopolises more than 70% of the population will live in the next few decades according to the UN report. It is necessary to make all conditions for the ideas implementation of comfortable and safe cities. Research and innovation of ecological solutions for eco-cities includes four directions. The article discusses one of them, it is the Enhancing the sustainable urbanization, its classification, which include the sustainable Urban Planning with the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) approach. The article provides functions and advantages of SuDS systems. Particular attention is paid to the zones of forgotten urban spaces. These zones can improve business and residential areas, as multi-functional design with nature can create new dynamic spaces that increase property values, thereby attracting investors, improving citizens’ well-being. The article provides some examples of draft designs for the improvement of the coastal zones of the Yeltsovka-2 River, located in the area of Zaeltsovsky Park.

Landscape intervention in the Hospital for Covid-19 pandemic in Madrid

From Design with Nature of Ian L. McHarg to The Origin of Eukaryotic Cells of Lynn Margulis, the role of the microorganisms in the cycle of life, health, and disease, and in climate change constitutes the life support system of the biosphere. The micro-parklands of the Emergency Hospital in Madrid create a natural system of prefabricated elements following the aim of rapid implementation, isolation, and protection taking as reference the simple integrated system of living microorganisms. These micro-enclosures provide circular areas where patients, visitors, or healthcare professionals can meet in secret places surrounded by trees and shrubs or long green islands where they can walk around. The landscape architecture project has a surface of 7,434 sqm and occupies a plot of 69,791 sqm located in the Hortaleza district of Madrid. Belonging to the previous City of Justice project on the north side of the Institute of Legal Medicine, the plot, which is trapezoidal with a drop of 4,5 meters, is destined for a public hospital constructed in four months during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to dry climatic conditions, adapted species with low water demand have been selected reducing the risk of allergies or respiratory problems. The topography has been modified to conserve rainwater and direct it to green areas that act as sponges that reduce runoff, store water, remove sediment and pollutants and release it into other ecosystems. There is no separation between soft scape (planting) and hard scape (soil) in the intervention, both are soft and porous and have macro and micro living beings. Following the references of these books, creativity and destruction as real phenomena both have attributes such as fitness and unfitness in the evolutionary way or health and disease. The vital system of living organisms (creativity) and viruses (destruction) has guided the design and distribution of these external areas that intend to prevent infections in the open air, as part of the mutation and adaptation process.

Design With Nature 2.0 – A Geodata Infrastructure Approach to Map Overlay

McHarg's "Design With Nature" was a precursor of the layer model in modern geographic information systems. We are reviewing the layer overlay approach from a geospatial data infrastructure (GDI) perspective and experiment with weighted map overlay using Web map services. A case study for natural hazard risk assessment for Southern Quebec illustrates this visual approach to multi-criteria analysis using online mapping. We conclude with a call for more research on thematic mapping and its use for decision support within GDIs.

Design With Nature 2.0 – A Geodata Infrastructure Approach to Map Overlay

McHarg's "Design With Nature" was a precursor of the layer model in modern geographic information systems. We are reviewing the layer overlay approach from a geospatial data infrastructure (GDI) perspective and experiment with weighted map overlay using Web map services. A case study for natural hazard risk assessment for Southern Quebec illustrates this visual approach to multi-criteria analysis using online mapping. We conclude with a call for more research on thematic mapping and its use for decision support within GDIs.

Memorial Parking Trees: Resilient Modular Design with Nature-Based Solutions in Vulnerable Urban Areas

Nature-based solutions (NbS) include all the landscape’s ecological components that have a function in the natural or urban ecosystem. Memorial Parking Trees (MPTs) are a new variant of a nature-based solution composed of a bioswale and a street tree allocated in the road, occupying a space that is sub-utilised by parked cars. This infill green practice can maximise the use of street trees in secondary streets and have multiple benefits in our communities. Using GIS mapping and methodology can support implementation in vulnerable neighbourhoods. In this research, we based vulnerability assessments for London, Rio de Janeiro, and Los Angeles on the following three indicators: extreme temperature, air quality, and flood-prone areas. Evidence is emerging that disadvantaged populations may live at higher risks of exposure to environmental hazards [1]. The income and healthcare accessibility of neighbourhoods are the two indicators that will help us target these communities for a better and faster decision-making process. The contrast between the results and the 15-min city concept supports our detecting and prioritising neighbourhoods for MPTS implementation, among other NbS solutions integrated into a more inclusive and sustainable urban design.

NArchitecTURE: A Paradigm of Design with Nature

The relationship between architecture and nature has been a constant debate in the field. The preposition that architecture is an integral part of nature and even the natural landscape itself has accompanied the development of architectural theories over time. However, the question of how nature can be a design language intrinsically involved in the design process has not been systematically explored. This paper, therefore, through initiating the concept of NArchitecTURE, commences with a review of relevant theories concerning the relationship between nature and architecture. And then, through investigating a number of pioneering design works, this paper identifies a series of morphological types and spatial patterns that NArchitecTURE can produce. By means of proposing an alternative design paradigm by working with nature, this paper aims to provide contemporary architects with valuable inspiration to achieve environmental sustainability.