Plan the city like a living system: Ecological urban planning is holistic: it asks how every building, street and park affects the living and non-living parts of the city.
The points to remember
- Ecological urban planning treats the city as an ecosystem, not just buildings and roads.
- It plans the biotic parts (people, plants, animals, microbes) and the abiotic parts (soil, water, air, climate) together.
- It plans for their relationships: trees cool the air, wetlands store floodwater, parks link habitats.
- It is holistic: one change ripples through the whole system.
- The aim: a city that works with nature, so it is healthier and more resilient.
Remember it as: Not a machine of concrete: a living system of soil, water, air and life.
More plants
- Trees on the balconies of Milan's Bosco Verticale.
Abiotic change
- Shade and cooler air around the flats.
Knock-on effect
- Less air conditioning; birds and bees nest there.
Real example: in Milan, the two towers of the Bosco Verticale (2014) carry about 800 trees: the building is designed as a habitat as well as a home.
Free preview
This is the free notes preview
You're reading the free notes. Aimnova Pro unlocks the full study experience — and you can try it with your first topic free to keep:
- FlashcardsLock in vocabulary and key terms with spaced repetition.
- Practice questionsAnswer exam-style questions and get instant AI marking.
- Mock exams & past-paper vaultSit full mocks and see exactly how examiners award marks.
- Personalised study planA daily plan built around your exam date and weak areas.
There are five main ways to plan a city as an ecosystem. You need to know one well, and be able to name the others.
Five approaches
- Urban ecology: green spaces, wildlife habitats, allotments, parks, canals, ponds.
- Urban farming: beekeeping, horticulture, aquaculture (fish), city farms.
- Biophilic design: living green walls and roofs, water features, natural light.
- Resilience planning: vertical farms, buildings on stilts where floods come, fail-safe power grids.
- Regenerative architecture: skins that clean the air, rain that refills aquifers, buildings that export energy.
Urban ecology
The London Wetland Centre (2000) turned four old reservoirs into lakes and reed beds for birds, in the middle of the city.
Urban farming
Brooklyn Grange, New York, has grown vegetables and kept bees on city rooftops since 2010.
Biophilic design
CaixaForum Madrid (2008) has a living wall of about 15,000 plants on its outside.
Resilience planning
Rotterdam's water squares are playgrounds that fill with storm water and drain slowly.
Regenerative architecture
A hospital in Mexico City (2013) has a facade coated to break down smog in the air around it.
Know one example well: Learn the Bosco Verticale (biophilic design) in detail: what it is, where, when, and what it does for the city's ecosystem.
Learn what examiners really want
See exactly what to write to score full marks. Our AI shows you model answers and the key phrases examiners look for.
'Greening the city' means adding plants: trees, parks, green roofs and walls. Each benefit comes from something the plants do.
Environmental advantages of greening
- Plants absorb air pollutants, store carbon (a carbon sink) and release oxygen.
- They give habitat, food and corridors for wildlife such as bees and birds.
- They intercept rain and slow runoff, so fewer flash floods; roots hold soil; plants filter dirty runoff.
- They shade buildings and cool the air by evapotranspiration: a weaker urban heat island.
- They absorb noise from traffic.
Remember it as: Clean, home, sponge, shade, hush.
Real example: the plants on the Bosco Verticale trap dust from Milan's traffic, take in carbon dioxide and shade the flats in summer.
Say how, and keep to the environment: 'Improves air quality', 'increases biodiversity' or 'prevents floods' on their own do not count: say how ('leaves trap dust', 'roots and soil soak up rain'). Beauty, money and community benefits are not environmental advantages.
Biophilic design brings nature into the building itself. Milan's 'vertical forest' is the best-known case.
Biophilic design: the Bosco Verticale
- What: two towers of flats, 111 m and 76 m, in Milan (2014).
- Plants: about 800 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 15,000 smaller plants on the balconies.
- Abiotic links: shade and evapotranspiration cool the flats; leaves trap dust and noise.
- Biotic links: birds and insects, including bees, nest and feed there.
- Limits: costly to build and care for; gardeners abseil down to prune the trees.
Strengths
- Cooler, cleaner air
- Habitat in the city centre
- Wellbeing of residents
Limits
- High cost of building and care
- Expensive flats
- One building, not a city
Real example: the Bosco Verticale, designed by the architect Stefano Boeri, stands in Porta Nuova, a district of Milan rebuilt on old railway land, beside a new public park.
Never wonder what to study next
Get a personalized daily plan based on your exam date, progress, and weak areas. We'll tell you exactly what to review each day.
How this comes up: Paper 1 (May 2023): figures of 'greening the city', then outline two environmental advantages [2]. Each advantage needs how the plants cause it.
Figure 1 is a fact file on greening the city of Milan.
Outline two environmental advantages of 'greening the city' as shown in Figure 1.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.